A recent study published by the World Economic Forum states that the world is on the verge of the Fourth Industrial Revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another. In its scale, scope, and complexity, the transformation will be unlike anything humankind has experienced before.

Fourth industrial revolution or Industry 4.0 :-

• Industry 4.0 has highly intelligent connected systems that create a fully digital value chain. It particularly is based on cyber physical production systems that integrate communications, IT, data and physical elements and wherein these systems transform the traditional plants into smart factories.

India missed the first three revolutions :-

• India languished on the fringes during the first two industrial revolutions powered by coal and steam and electricity and oil, respectively, and only started playing catch-up in the computer-driven third industrial revolution.

India is geared up for fourth industrial revolution :-

• India provides a potentially huge market access.
• There is the very appealing demographic dividend with Indian youth representing approximately 20% of the global workforce by 2020. With more than 50 per cent of its population is under the age of 27, India can play a pivotal role in shaping the global fourth Industrial revolution in a responsible, scalable and inclusive manner.
• There is a rising middle class
• India is expected to become the fifth largest consumer market in two decades. Within this context, any form of consumption, entrepreneurship, startup or industry, can be viewed as a scaling opportunity.
• The subcontinent has already taken steps to become an e-government. For example, the government has made efforts to enrol its citizens into a national database. Aadhaar is the world’s largest biometrics database, with 1.2 billion Indian residents enrolled so far.
• India also wants to become an AI hub with the government recently announcing its National Programme on AI to encourage the development of AI-related technology in the country.
• India is also quickly rising up the ranks in terms of innovation. Last year, the country moved up five spots on the Global Innovation Index, ranking 57th out of 125 countries. In the category of ICT service exports, India was ranked first.
• India also has a robust start-up scene, which reportedly has more firms than anywhere else in the world except for the US and the United Kingdom (UK). Today, the nation is home to the third largest number of technology-driven start-ups in the world. Never before has India witnessed such an explosion of entrepreneurial spirit.
• With one of the youngest labour forces in the world, a sizeable technical aptitude, the second largest number of internet users on mobile devices and the second largest English speaking population, India is well positioned to enhance its global leadership in a post fourth industrial revolution era.
• With the right mix of accelerators – including regulatory frameworks, educational ecosystems and government incentives – India can lead the fourth industrial revolution, while simultaneously enhancing the quality, equity and sustainability of its own growth and development outcomes
• The enablers to actualise India’s sustainable transformation to fourth industrial revolution includes
  1. Creation of an enabling ecosystem through incubators and accelerators to develop and scale innovations in ‘Future Now’ Cleantech sectors like clean energy, climate-smart agriculture, circular economy, green buildings and e-mobility is critical from the Indian context, to achieve transformative goals.
  2. Proactive initiatives and policies to build on the positive aspects of the new industrial revolution and preventing further widening of the inequality gap are necessary. The Government of India, through its unique initiatives like Digital India, Startup India and Make in India Initiative is bolstering the opportunities for industry 4.0 and green entrepreneurs.
  3. Participation of relevant ministries (like MoEFCC, MNRE) and Government-led coalitions (like International Solar Alliance) must be leveraged to champion this on-going movement.
  4. World Economic Forum, in partnership with the Government of India has set up the Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution India to design and pilot practical tools for specific technologies. Such platforms and coalitions must be leveraged to assess the feasibility and scale innovative business models
• Access to finance commensurate with maturity of the business model and beginning stage of the start-up lifecycle is extremely important to scale innovations. While Government-led initiatives like Start-Up Sangam will play a key role in crowding capital, private sector participation through grants, seed funding, equity capital and mainstream debt is necessary to scale innovations
• Corporates will have a key role in championing this on-going movement, leveraging the ART Model – Alliances, Relationships enabled through Technology.
• India is currently at a cusp of technovation revolution and the transition to a sustainable and inclusive growth trajectory will be accelerated by path-breaking innovations, enabling policies and availability of finance. These developments will lead to the emergence of ‘new-Gen’ business models, characterised by DICE – Design, Innovation and Creativity led Entrepreneurship to create social, environmental and economic positive impact.
• Mobile computing as a catalyst is driving massive data consumption and this has given young Indians a fertile ground for disruptive ideas.
• Cloud computing and networking technologies have used broadband as a foundational enabler leading to Indian entrepreneurs starting to make a global impact.

 Limitations faced by India in this regard:-

• Stiff competition from other countries, high unemployment levels and high incidences of poverty etc.
• Revolution is likely to increase inequality in India as the spread of machines increases markets and disrupts labour markets. 
  1. Inequality represents the greatest societal concern associated with the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
  2. The largest beneficiaries of innovation tend to be the providers of intellectual and physical capital the innovators, shareholders, and investors which explains the rising gap in wealth between those dependent on capital versus labour.
• As automation substitutes for labour across the entire economy, the net displacement of workers by machines might exacerbate the gap between returns to capital and returns to labour.
• With this revolution, it is also possible that in the future, talent, more than capital, will represent the critical factor of production. This will give rise to a job market increasingly segregated into low-skill/low-pay and high-skill/high-pay segments, which in turn will lead to an increase in social tensions.
• The Fourth Industrial Revolution will change not only what we do but also who we are. It will affect our identity and all the issues associated with it: our sense of privacy, our notions of ownership, our consumption patterns, the time we devote to work and leisure, and how we develop our careers, cultivate our skills, meet people, and nurture relationships.

What should be done?

• Governments, businesses and civil society organisations should put together an ecosystem for massive upskilling of the workforce.
• India needs to prepare itself for a period of information and digital abundance, adapt itself to the scorching pace of innovation and learn to collaborate on scale, quickly transform the idea into a breakthrough innovation, shift from a system of time-bound education to a mode of continuous learning and create more employment opportunities than what new and disruptive technologies take away.
• There is a need for good quality education to make India’s youth a productive asset.