www.pwc.

in

Advance artificial
intelligence for growth
Leveraging AI and robotics
for India’s economic
transformation
April 2018
Contents
1. Introduction....................................................................................................7
2. Development and progress in AI across the globe.............................................8
3. How AI has evolved in India in the recent past...............................................11
4. Perceived impact of AI on business and society...............................................24
5. Tackling the challenges of AI innovation and integration...............................27
6. The road ahead – policy planning priorities for the future..............................34
7. Bibliography..................................................................................................37

2 PwC
Message from PwC

In the recent past, India has seen a keen interest and sense of optimism
regarding the impact that artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning
and robotics can have on society. From making subtle inroads into our
lives and work through a range of products and services, AI has now
gained mainstream attention in the news and media and is considered
as a foundational technology for the next phase of innovation and,
consequently, India’s economic boom.
In combination with technologies such as the Internet of things
(IoT), virtual and augmented reality, drones and cloud platforms, AI
and robotics stand to become the building blocks of the Industry 4.0
revolution in India. Private businesses, start-ups, government bodies
Arnab Basu and academic circles have been making strides in coming up with newer
Partner and Leader use cases across a diverse range of sectors—and in the process proving
Technology Consulting their mettle in translating the promise of AI to demonstrable benefits.
PwC India These benefits are being reaped even in sectors that are traditionally
technologically less advanced, such as agriculture and public utilities.
Our 2018 research1 on the perceived impact of AI on business and
individuals revealed positive views among business decision makers
and regular participants in terms of AI’s potential to contribute towards
socioeconomic causes like economic growth, health and well-being,
and education. In addition, the government has a favourable attitude
towards the use of AI to meet these goals.
Indeed, it has stepped up its efforts to kick-start and popularise AI
research and development. The AI Task Force, formed under the
Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, has brought
together experts from diverse fields to shape the AI roadmap for the
nation and has recently released its findings and recommendations
Sudipta Ghosh to the government.
Partner and Leader
Data and Analytics Through this report, we have articulated some of the trends shaping AI
PwC India growth in general across the globe, its landmark applications in sectors
across India and steps that can be taken to enable this further.

1 PwC (2018). Artificial intelligence in India – hype or reality. Retrieved from: https://www.pwc.in/consulting/technology/data-and-analytics/
artificial-intelligence-in-india-hype-or-reality.html (last accessed on 10 April 2018)

Advance artificial intelligence for growth 3

Message from ASSOCHAM

AI is fast becoming the most significant general purpose technology

of our era. With techniques like machine learning, we can now build
systems that are capable of improving their own performance by
learning from data over time.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is moving from hype to reality and is
increasingly cementing its importance as a building block for
modern software and applications. It is finding use in a wide
variety of industries or tasks within them—for example, in the
form of more personalised search results on the web to daily
conveniences such as app-based cab services and location-specific
context-aware suggestions about restaurants, movies and other
Sandeep Jajodia forms of entertainment.
President
Through this conference, we will try to examine the areas across
ASSOCHAM
private and public industries where the AI continuum (augmented,
assisted and autonomous intelligence) could be applicable, as well
as a robust AI policy framework that needs to touch upon the social
and economic considerations of a well-governed society. These
efforts will foster a balanced environment in India for innovation
and leadership in AI.

4 PwC
Message from ASSOCHAM

India’s journey towards embracing technology for digital

transformation has come a long way. The foundation to leapfrog with
the new wave of emerging technologies has been well-laid in terms of
flagship programmes such as Digital India, Make in India, Smart Cities,
Jan Dhan Yojana, Startup India and Skill India. Every stakeholder group
can be proud of the efforts and achievements around the creation of the
world’s largest rural broadband network, largest direct benefit transfer
system, largest digital identity system and the citizen engagement
platform MyGov. These initiatives, coupled with the push to skilling and
entrepreneurship, are providing the foundation for the infusion of the
next wave of technology solutions around artificial intelligence (AI), the
Dr. Lovneesh Chanana Internet of things, cyber security, blockchain, etc.
Chairman, ASSOCHAM
Various studies have highlighted the potential positive impact of AI
National Council on
on economic growth. AI will help address critical societal challenges
IT/ITES
and yield tangible benefits for citizens. It is expected to address
challenges in priority areas such as healthcare, public security and
disaster management. There is very clearly an opportunity for India
to emerge as a leader in the development of products and services in
this space. At the same time, AI offers the opportunity for businesses
and governments to radically reform and redesign service delivery
through intelligent systems. Globally, reference cases and applications
have already emerged wherein substantive cost reduction and revenue
enhancements have been projected. Indian entrepreneurs are already
working and delivering products and solutions in this area.
While recognising the huge opportunity that AI holds for emerging
economies like India, it is important to highlight the need to address
social and ethical concerns and also the need to create an effective
programme governance structure to manage the enablement of growth
facilitated by intelligent systems. The programmes around AI will need
to focus on skilling, reskilling and capacity building, work organisation
and redesign, standardisation and interoperability, regulatory
framework, cyber security and public safety. A programmatic approach
can help to initiate work and move forward in this direction. Industry-
government collaboration will be the key to success.
The second ASSOCHAM International Conference on ‘Advance artificial
intelligence for growth’ will bring together all stakeholder groups
to deliberate on policies, applications, solutions and requirements
for the adoption of AI by Indian industry and the government. We
sincerely believe that the deliberations will be beneficial for all
stakeholder groups.
I wish the conference great success!

Advance artificial intelligence for growth 5

Message from ASSOCHAM

We believe that artificial intelligence (AI) has vast potential to create

new industries and grow the global economy. As we strive to make
meaningful progress in computer vision, natural language processing,
and the physical and logical infrastructure required to run highly
advanced AI systems, we remain committed to an open source model
which we believe will ultimately spur more innovation, encourage
collaboration and mutual review, and helps us all move faster.
Academia, industry and civil society should have an ongoing dialogue
about the technology as it develops to ensure that AI is used in a
responsible manner.

Ashwani Rana
Co-Chairman
ASSOCHAM National
Council on IT/ITes

The global scientific community has come a long way since the
development of AI as a concept to its modern-day appeal as a field
with near-limitless potential in turning around the way activities are
performed in a functioning society. The commercial applications of AI
are massive and Indian start-ups are beginning to identify them and tap
into the market, which remains at a nascent stage.
ASSOCHAM believes that the national initiatives like Make in India,
Skill India and Digital India will immensely benefit from the AI
technology and suggests that the government should take both long-
term and short-term policy initiatives to promote AI in the country.
To understand the impact of AI on various sectors and the various policy
D. S. Rawat
initiatives required, ASSOCHAM has organised the 2nd International
Secretary General
Conference on ‘Advance artificial intelligence for growth’.
ASSOCHAM
ASSOCHAM is committed to creating more awareness about the subject
and this background paper, jointly prepared by PwC and ASSOCHAM,
is a step in that direction. We congratulate the team for their efforts and
convey our wishes for the success of the conference.

6 PwC
1. Introduction

Artificial intelligence (AI) is fast becoming the most In this report, we have tried to examine the current state of
significant general purpose technology of our era. With AI development in India in tandem with the government’s
techniques like machine learning (ML), we can now vision for a smarter ‘Digital India’ at the core. The emphasis
build systems that are capable of improving their own is on the advances made across sectors in India, and how
performance by learning from data over time. the start-up and SME ecosystem have contributed (and are
expected to contribute in the future) towards the above goal
In our Artificial Intelligence and Robotics – 2017 report,2
and the role played by academic institutions.
we had examined the AI growth trajectory in India using
the lens of the three pillars of AI research and innovation— Further, the report examines the perceptions of Indian
namely the government, private sector and academia. business decision makers and regular employees regarding
The report highlighted on-going initiatives undertaken the impact of AI and robotics on businesses and society and
across each of the three groups, their potential impact on the challenges that stand in the way of maximising gains.
key sectors, employment-related concerns, governance
challenges and impediments to creating an ecosystem
that is conducive to accelerated development, and how
policy panning could be shaped while taking cues from
approaches taken by other nations.
Since then, there have been numerous developments in the
field of AI, ML and robotics in India—both institutionally
driven as well as more subtle percolations within business
processes and consumer lifestyles. One of the most notable
developments in the former category has been the setting
up of an Artificial Intelligence Task Force by the Ministry of
Commerce and Industry, Government of India, to invigorate
the use of AI towards India’s economic transformation.
The Artificial Intelligence Task Force recently launched
a report3 which throws light on the state of AI in
some of the most influential sectors in India—such as
manufacturing, financial services, agriculture, and
defence—and the dominant challenges plaguing each of
these sectors. Further, it provides certain recommendations
for the government to further the cause of AI-led
economic development.
The 2018 Budget also indicated the government’s intent
towards investing in research in new areas like AI and
robotics as part of a broader technology drive for the
digitisation of India.4 National Institution for Transforming
India (NITI) Aayog, a think tank of the Government of
India, was tasked with establishing a national programme
to conduct research and development in the above and
other new age technologies.

2 PwC. (2017). Artificial Intelligence and Robotics – 2017: Leveraging artificial intelligence and robotics for sustainable growth. Retrieved from
https://www.pwc.in/publications/2017/artificial-intelligence-and-robotics-2017.html (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
3 Kamakoti, V. & others (20 March 2018). Report of the Artificial Intelligence Task Force. Retrieved from: http://dipp.nic.in/whats-new/report-
task-force-artificial-intelligence (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
4 Mendonca, J. (2018). Budget 2018: Government to push research efforts in artificial intelligence. Economic Times (Software). Retrieved from
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/software/budget-2018-government-to-push-research-efforts-in-artificial-intelligence-says-arun-
jaitley/articleshow/62738437.cms (last accessed on 10 April 2018)

Advance artificial intelligence for growth 7

2. Development and progress
in AI across the globe

Recent advancements in hardware, platforms and one hand and nations as a whole on the other. Globally, the
applications as well as newer algorithms around the world scope of AI applications is huge and growing. Moreover, it
have accelerated the commercialisation of AI and driven is increasingly getting intertwined with the overall digital
the race for leadership among technology giants on the transformation agenda of businesses and governments.

2.1. Recent trends and expected developments in AI

Over the past decade, as AI innovation picked up pace into the AI space and have redesigned existing products
due to advancements in hardware and decreasing costs of as well as engineered new ones so as to embed AI within
computing resources, its application across sectors started them, with the aim of catering to the diverse requirements
gaining traction. Large technology players rapidly moved of industries.

Stabilisation of AI-powered solutions from hype to reality

AI is moving from hype to reality and is increasingly
cementing its importance as a building block for modern
software and applications. It is finding use in a wide variety
of industries or tasks within them—for example, in the
form of more personalised search results on the web to daily
conveniences such as app-based cab services and location-
specific, context-aware suggestions about restaurants,
movies and other forms of entertainment.
While AI-focused start-ups are currently booming and
investor response towards them has been warm, as ML
becomes a mainstay, new technology start-ups and firms
in this space would be expected to have the necessary
algorithms to power their solutions. With the novelty factor
wearing off, they will have to further differentiate their
products from the market on other dimensions like ease of
use, interoperability, robustness and support so as to build
credibility and compete in the market.

Evolution of human-AI
collaborative workflows
Human-robot collaborative ecosystems are on the rise,
particularly in sectors such as manufacturing, logistics and
healthcare. In such collaborative workflows, the heavy
lifting is done by the robots (or precision operations)
with human workers undertaking higher-level jobs such
as programming, maintaining and coordinating robotic
operations. For example, collaborative warehouse robots
(or cobots) perform much of the physical work, while
workers focusing on delicate tasks like guiding, monitoring
and assisting robots in picking items off shelves, slotting
them into separate orders and loading them to vehicles.

8 PwC
The advancement of narrow AI
Narrow AI (AI focused on a single task) has grown within
businesses. Combined with human-AI collaborations, these
narrow AI applications are reshaping businesses, sectors and
markets. For example, narrow AI is being used by businesses to
drive sales and customer engagement across multiple channels
with the use of recommender systems, virtual private assistants,
chatbots and intelligent platforms.
Further, AI is contributing towards higher operational efficiency
by enhancing quality control and increasing machine uptime
through predictive maintenance and prescriptive actions. As
a result, companies are increasingly evolving their products
and experimenting with new business models. AI tools
and applications are being embedded into overall digital
transformation initiatives.

Evolving dynamics of competition

Cross-border investments in AI and robotics have increased
sharply in recent years. AI has already paved the path towards
becoming the backbone of government-sponsored cyber security
efforts. Global technology giants and AI start-ups have worked in
collaboration with the government and defence bodies to bolster
cyber security frameworks across the world.
These giants have already moved in on the AI market in a major
way, with enterprise AI solutions integrated into their products
and platforms. While on the one hand, this could provide access
to AI to large as well as small users, it could also have the effect
of stifling competition for AI start-ups who may now need to ally
themselves with larger firms to ensure survival and sustainability.
On the other hand, larger AI players may find opportunities to
extend their solutions and services to previously untouched
segments with the agility, accessibility and affordability offered
by their smaller, more nimble partners. Such collaborative models
may also allow AI players to offer a ‘full-service’ stack comprising
the underlying infrastructure, platform, tools and applications,
on-demand expertise for customised offerings, maintenance, and
training and transition management.

Increase in consumer-focused
interactive and personalised
AI systems
The adoption rates of smart products with AI capabilities
integrated into them have shot up among B2B and B2C
customers. These include voice-enabled computing and services
such as digital assistants.
As the market for AI-powered consumer products further
expands and smaller players join the technology giants in
offering substitutes, the competitive differentiation would
have to arise from greater levels of customisation and targeted
functionalities. For example, in the case of voice controlled
assistants, a wider gamut of language processing capabilities
such as vernacular languages and colloquial vocabulary may
need to be incorporated into their design.

Advance artificial intelligence for growth 9

Localisation of AI – moving towards
decentralised applications
AI implementation in devices and sensors is experiencing a shift
towards a decentralised learning approach. Information processing
and intelligence generation are encapsulated within localised devices
(such as smartphones or wearables) rather than taking place in
centralised infrastructure (such as in clouds and servers). This in turn
allows for faster responses (such as in autonomous cars) and greater
personalisation (such as smartphone security that recognises the
user’s biometrics). It is also likely that hybrid models (centralised and
decentralised) may find greater application in certain walks of life.

Lowered entry barriers for AI

and ML platforms
Another trend in the case of AI products and offerings from technology
giants and start-ups is the increasing number of open source
libraries, application programming interfaces (APIs), and software
development kits (SDKs).5 As a result, the entry barriers for users and
teams new to developing software using AI and ML have reduced.
An article by Gartner6 predicts that the increased availability of AI
capabilities embedded in applications and platforms will provide
a boost to intelligent conversational interfaces in products and
services. It states (based on a Gartner survey7 of 3,160 CIOs across
98 countries) that 21% of CIOs are already piloting AI initiatives
or have near-term plans to do the same, while another 25% have
medium or long-term plans. The article further points out that cloud
service providers integrating ML and AI into their platforms will
enable organisations to rapidly ingest data and integrate robust AI
capabilities into their processes.

Impact on IT spend distribution

AI’s share within the IT spending budget is expected to keep
increasing. An International Data Corporation (IDC) forecast
estimates that the spending on AI-focused hardware, software and
services will reach 58 billion USD by 2021, up from close to 12 billion
USD in 2017 and a CAGR of nearly 50% between 2017–2021.8 Of
this, 50% of the spending is expected to arise from software—that is,
applications and platforms.
Investor interest in ML start-ups, particularly software-based ones, is
increasing,9 compared to that in their hardware- and robotics-based
counterparts, owing to the speed with which they can scale. Corporate
mergers and acquisitions are also on the rise.

5 API – a set of functions or procedures that allow communication between software components
SDK – a set of software development tools that allow programmers to develop applications
6 Goasduff, L. (19 December 2017). 2018 will mark the beginning of AI democratization. Gartner. Retrieved from https://www.gartner.com/
smarterwithgartner/2018-will-mark-the-beginning-of-ai-democratization/ (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
7 Gartner. (2 October 2017). Gartner survey of more than 3,000 CIOs confirms the changing role of the Chief Information Officer. Retrieved
from https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3810968 (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
8 Pollard, S., Rajwanshi, V., Murphy, M. R. and others (27 November 2017). An investors’ guide to artificial intelligence. JP Morgan. Retrieved
from https://flamingo.ai/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/JPMorganAnInvestorsGuideToArtificialIntelligencev2.pdf (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
9 Columbus, L. (18 February 2018). Roundup of machine learning forecasts and market estimates, 2018. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.
forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2018/02/18/roundup-of-machine-learning-forecasts-and-market-estimates-2018/#c2a21302225c (last
accessed on 10 April 2018)

10 PwC
3. How AI has evolved in
India in the recent past

3.1. Government push towards AI innovation

and development
The Government of India has recently undertaken
several initiatives to pave the way for AI-led economic
transformation in India. While these initiatives have been at
a strategic level—focusing on 5–10 year plans for increasing
research and development as well as commercial uptake
of AI-powered solutions—future initiatives are expected
to take on a more operational approach with specific
incentives aimed at facilitating the integration of smart
solutions within sectors and functions.
In terms of providing financial support for AI programmes,
the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology,
Government of India, has been funding projects by
educational institutions in the areas of ubiquitous
computing and wireless sensor networks for real-time
landslide monitoring and perception engineering (e.g.
artificial sensing, perceptual robotics). The ministry has also
been operating a Technology Incubation and Development
of Entrepreneurs (TIDE) scheme for facilitating technology
innovation over the last decade.10
Further, there is potential for companies to set up AI-
focused innovation centres in India with government
encouragement through initiatives such as Digital India
and Make in India, which have created a favourable
regulatory environment. More than 36% of large financial
establishments have already invested in these technologies
and around 70% plan to embrace it in the near future.11

10 MeitY. (n.d.). Technology Incubation and Development of

Entrepreneurs (TIDE). Retrieved from http://meity.gov.in/content/
technology-incubation-and-development-entrepreneurs (last
accessed on 10 April 2018)
11 Belgavi, V., Gandhi, M., Kshirsagar, H., & others. (2017). FinTech
Trends Report – India 2017. PwC and Startupbootcamp. Retrieved
from https://www.pwc.in/assets/pdfs/publications/2017/FinTech-
india-report-2017.pdf (last accessed on 10 April 2018)

Advance artificial intelligence for growth 11

3.2. Sectoral adoption and use cases
The Artificial Intelligence Task Force, in its recommendation report to the Government of
India, has identified the following areas of focus for AI-led developments:12

Manufacturing and supply chain Healthcare

Agriculture Financial services

Education Consumer and retail

Accessibility technology for the

National security and defence
differently abled

Public and utility services Environment

In India, agriculture is the biggest contributor in the

primary sector at 17–18% of the GDP.13 Being an agrarian
country, adopting the latest technology to foster growth, is
a natural choice.
Under the Make in India initiative, the government aims
to increase the share of GDP from the manufacturing
sector to 25% by 20224. The service sector in India,
consisting of sub-sectors like finance, transportation, public
administration and defence, substantially drives GDP
growth. Consequently, the gains from AI are also expected
to have a magnified effect on the above sectors.
With a projected annual GDP growth rate of 7–7.5% for
the Indian economy (FY 2019),15 it would be prudent to
unlock the true potential of 2.2% of the population that
is differently abled.16 Technological developments could
help this segment in overcoming barriers, improving
their quality of life and contributing to their full potential
towards the economy.
The following sections elaborate on the developments
and real-life applications of AI which have stood out
prominently within each of the above-mentioned sectors.

12 Kamakoti, V. & others. (2018). Report of the Artificial Intelligence Task Force. Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. Retrieved from
http://dipp.nic.in/whats-new/report-task-force-artificial-intelligence (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
13 Sunder, S. (29 January 2018). India economic survey 2018: Farmers gain as agriculture mechanisation speeds up, but more R&D needed.
Financial Express. Retrieved from http://www.financialexpress.com/budget/india-economic-survey-2018-for-farmers-agriculture-gdp-
msp/1034266/ (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
14 India Brand Equity Foundation. (March 2018). Manufacturing sector in India – Analysis and forecast. Retrieved from https://www.ibef.org/
industry/manufacturing-sector-india.aspx (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
15 Financial Express Online. (29 January 2018). Economic Survey 2017-18: India GDP growth rate seen bouncing back 7-7.5% in FY19.
Retrieved from http://www.financialexpress.com/budget/economic-survey-2017-18-gdp-growth-india-growth-rate-rebound-arun-
jaitley/1034135/ (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
16 Kamakoti, V. & others (20 March 2018). Report of the Artificial Intelligence Task Force. Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.
Retrieved from http://dipp.nic.in/whats-new/report-task-force-artificial-intelligence (last accessed on 10 April 2018)

12 PwC
Manufacturing and supply chain
Industry 4.0 digitisation—IoT-enabled supply chains, • Predictive maintenance models using data related to
advanced analytics, AI and ML techniques—have been machine performance and downtime history
transforming the manufacturing sector by incorporating
• Optimisation of manufacturing processes by enhanced
greater visibility, flexibility and operational efficiency in the
monitoring and auto-correction of processes;
supply chain. Some of the leading use cases of advanced
identification of inefficient machines and processes and
analytics, AI and robotics in manufacturing include:
adjusting parameters to improve yields
• Robust demand forecasting based on critical demand
• Reduction in cost-of-poor-quality by quantifying implicit
drivers; improved decision making through structured
and explicit costs associated with poor quality of work
scenario analysis
in progress (WIP) and finished goods—for example,
• Inventory optimisation using statistical modelling warranty payouts, cost of raw material scraps, quality
techniques to perform inventory stock level vs lost sales inspection costs
scenario analysis

A multinational conglomerate and manufacturer of electronic systems and equipment has applied AI-based
scheduling systems to warehouse management, resulting in an 8% increase in productivity through order
prioritisation and picking efficiency, a 15% boost in sales and 27% increase in order rates. The AI solution is also
being applied in other areas like finance, transportation and utilities by the company across over 50 projects.17

A start-up firm headquartered in Singapore has disrupted logistics and supply chain processes by designing and
manufacturing robotic systems for automation at warehouses, distribution centres and fulfilment centres.18 The
start-up has introduced warehouse robots which are capable of fetching items from warehouse shelves, ranging from
smartphones to FMCG goods. Another type of robot—an intelligent conveyor belt—sorts parcels by their dimensions,
weight, and delivery location faster than humans (nearly four times as fast). The robots sort up to 1.2 crore parcels
a month have been pitched to be a cost-effective alternative to warehouse workforce. India’s largest and most
prominent e-commerce firms are among the start-up’s clientele. As the leading e-commerce players in India compete
to draw in demanding customers with same-day deliveries, discounts and simplified returns, warehouse efficiency
and lowered costs could prove to be key enablers for the growth of AI and robotics in the logistics sector.

The successful application of AI and robotics in the In the transportation function, data on geo location, traffic
manufacturing and supply chain sector has the following and weather can be used for smart scheduling so as to
dependencies, where government and private sector overcome jams and allow for real-time route adjustments.
intervention may be required: Further, AI and ML come into play in enabling semi-
autonomous driver assistance, autonomous fleets for ride
a. Standards for data transformation and exchange for
sharing, engine monitoring and predictive maintenance of
the large volumes of data generated by IoT-enabled
vehicles. Advanced supply chains are being developed using
machine-to-machine (M2M) communication
expert decision systems. Automated vehicles and driver
b. High-bandwidth industrial communication networks assistance systems enabled using computer vision can now
that enable machines, robots, wearables, sensors and transport goods more efficiently. These technologies reduce
actuators to exchange data at high speed, allowing real- the vulnerabilities of a supply chain caused on account of
time monitoring and updates weather, traffic or unnatural events.
c. Faster and more streamlined workflow from
ideation to approval for testing and deployment of
novel technologies such as autonomous vehicles A start-up firm in India has come up with an AI system
and collaborative robots in the form of a powerful camera which borrows
the intelligence of machine learning to analyse
d. Provisions for vocational training to industrial workers driving patterns and can help determine the cause
on using smart machine tools and collaborating with of an accident.19
robotic agents
e. Introduction of domain-focused education in schools
and universities covering applications of AI, ML and
robotics in an industrial product focused scenario—
for example, as course materials in core engineering
steams like mechanical and electrical engineering, and
industrials products management

17 Hitachi. (2017). Take on this unpredictable business age together with Hitachi AI Technology/H. Retrieved from http://social-innovation.
hitachi/in/solutions/ai/pdf/ai_en_170310.pdf (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
18 Sharma, N. (7 October 2017). Now robots are coming after India’s low-cost labour. Bloomberg Quint. Retrieved from https://www.
bloombergquint.com/technology/2017/10/04/now-robots-are-coming-after-indias-low-cost-labour (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
19 Dalal, M. (20 May 2017). 10 standout start-ups taking an AI leap in India. Livemint. Retrieved from https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/
u7M3e5ymwmGf6QRLaXBoAJ/10-standout-startups-taking-an-AI-leap-in-India.html (last accessed on 10 April 2018)

Advance artificial intelligence for growth 13

Healthcare
The healthcare sector in India is already burdened with the
high population relative to the number of physicians and The ‘Da Vinci’ surgical robot has been installed in
care professionals. As a result, a large segment of people is around 20 cities and is operated by over 300 trained
deprived of even primary healthcare services. surgeons. Benefits include reduced blood loss, lower
risk of wound infection, quicker recovery times and
While an absolute increase in the number of care providers
saving healthy tissue from damage.21 The minimally
may not be immediately feasible, access to AI-powered
invasive surgical system circumvents the traditional
intelligent technologies can boost the productivity and
surgical procedures involving large open incisions and
accessibility of the existing resources such that they can
serve more patients with the dual benefits of improved laparoscopy or less invasive incisions. The range of
outcomes and at lower expenses. procedures which can be successfully performed using
the Da Vinci system span multiple departments—
Indian start-ups and SMEs have leveraged AI to cardiology, gastroenterology, urology and more—and
address the demand for high-quality and affordable treatments such as coronary artery disease, colon and
healthcare in the country. rectal cancer, and liver disease.22
Start-ups offer solutions and services aimed at capturing
A Bengaluru based start-up has developed an app that
patient data using sensors in smartphones and wearable
allows users to take a snap of their face which it then
devices, remotely extracting information from patient
scans for acne, spots, etc. The app also recommends a
records for monitoring health, supporting diagnosis,
enabling health trackers and predicting onset of symptoms,
treatment regimen.23
and powering patient connectivity with specialists. These
start-ups have been able to use big data and AI to detect
Further, AI- and ML-led innovation in healthcare will be
conditions like cancer from medical imagery and reports
dependent on the availability of sufficiently high-quality
and to develop customised treatment plans for individuals.
data in electronic health and medical repositories.
Thus, AI in India is enhancing the productivity and
availability of physicians. The key enablers of AI growth in the healthcare sector
which would require intervention from the government are:
A team of experts from a renowned technology a. Defining data sharing protocols and frameworks such
institution in India working alongside a Kolkata based as individual patient data vs aggregate derivations from
medical centre has devised an AI-assisted model for public health databases and electronic health records
automatically grading the aggressiveness of breast b. Training programmes for physicians, nurses and
cancer. The solution relies on deep learning algorithms healthcare workers in effectively applying data
to identify high-risk and normal tumour types. In the science techniques and interacting with AI-powered
process, it helps overcome human error.20 technologies at work
c. Cross-border collaboration or partnership with giants
AI-enabled robots can assist surgeons in conducting precise to identify use cases and deploy auto-diagnostic
surgical procedures. AI platforms have already established techniques, medical robots and human-machine
their credibility as expert systems for advising medical interfaces for treatment and surgery
practitioners on the diagnosis of diseases like cancer and
d. Laying down of ethical guidelines related to the sharing
recommending treatments. Other use cases for AI include
and usage of medical data and protocols for acting on
early identification of potential pandemics and tracking
recommendations from AI-based expert systems
disease incidence to contain spread, and image processing
and diagnostics for radiology and pathology. Such assistive
and augmentative applications of AI play a critical role in
enhancing efficacy, particularly that of less experienced
practitioners. In addition, they make healthcare accessible
to a wider strata of the society.

20 IANS. (23 July 2017). Indian scientists tap AI to identify aggressive breast cancer. Indian Express. Retrieved from http://www.
newindianexpress.com/lifestyle/health/2017/jul/23/indian-scientists-tap-ai-to-identify-aggressive-breast-cancer-1632477--1.html (last
accessed on 10 April 2018)
21 Tribune News Service. (21 November 2017). Surgical Robot visits DMCH, helps in invasive surgery. The Tribune. Retrieved from http://
www.tribuneindia.com/news/ludhiana/surgical-robot-visits-dmch-helps-in-invasive-surgery/500936.html (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
22 Apollo institute of robotic surgery. (n.d.). Da Vinci Robotic System. Retrieved from https://www.apollohospitals.com/departments/robotics-
surgery/da-vinci-robotic-surgery (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
23 Sharma, S. (23 November 2017). This AI-enabled dermatology app aims to save Indians the blushes. Factor Daily. Retrieved from https://
factordaily.com/cureskin-ai-skincare/ (last accessed on 10 April 2018)

14 PwC
Agriculture
Agriculture and allied sectors like forestry and fisheries
accounted for over 13% of India’s GDP (2013) and over 50% One of the largest technology firms is working with the
of the workforce.24 Government of Karnataka to develop a multi-variant
agro-commodity price forecasting model using AI, ML
Inadequate demand prediction, lack of assured irrigation,
on the cloud, satellite imaging and other advanced
soil degradation, overuse/misuse of pesticides and
technologies. This model can be used to determine the
fertilisers, availability of capital for farmers, and
unorganised and low-tech practices are some of the current minimum support price (MSP) for commodities like
challenges prevalent in the sector. ‘tur’. With guidance from the Karnataka Agricultural
Price Commission (KAPC), Department of Agriculture,
Farming can greatly benefit from AI-powered intelligent the technology giant is experimenting with inputs
solutions that enable smarter production, processing, like historical sowing area, production, and yield and
storage, distribution and consumption of agricultural weather data sets on its platform for farmers to make
products. Site-specific and timely data about crops
informed marketing decisions.25,26
facilitates the application of appropriate inputs on
fertilisers and chemicals, crop health and disease, spreads, Further, the organisation has collaborated with the
monitoring health of farm animals, and intelligent farm International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid
mechanisation through autonomous machines such as Tropics (ICRISAT) to develop an AI-based sowing app
harvesters, thus improving the yield per square unit of land. which notifies farmers of the optimal time for sowing
Further down the value chain, AI and ML systems can make in order to get a good harvest. Farmers in the state of
commodity packaging and storage more effective with Andhra Pradesh (over 170 farmers) were reported to
lower wastage and spoilage. have achieved an average 30% higher yield per hectare
compared to the previous year based on inputs from
the AI-based app.27
An Indian start-up is working on mechanising farms
through a combination of a semi-autonomous
vehicle with robotic arms, 3D location and vision. It
has introduced a cotton picking machine aimed at
achieving comparable levels of performance as human
pickers while minimising manual, repetitive efforts.
Human labourers coordinate the robot’s actions by
guiding them through rows of plants, unloading the
picked cotton, etc.28

The key enablers of AI adoption for smart agriculture

include the following:
a. Provisions for easier connect from farmers to
consumers, leading to improved price discovery
b. Training programmes to acquaint farmers and
agricultural workers with AI-based modern techniques,
including interacting with and interpreting crop
information systems, analytical outcomes on
climate, harvest yield, crop diseases and smart
farming equipment

24 Kamakoti, V. & others (20 March 2018). Report of the Artificial Intelligence Task Force. Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.
Retrieved from http://dipp.nic.in/whats-new/report-task-force-artificial-intelligence (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
25 Kulkarni, V. & Ganesh, V. (27 October 2017). Farmers look to harvest the fruits of AI. Hindu Business Line. Retrieved from https://www.
thehindubusinessline.com/economy/farmers-look-to-harvest-the-fruits-of-ai/article9928335.ece (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
26 Express Web Desk. (27 October 2017). Karnataka govt. inks MoU with Microsoft to use AI for digital agriculture. The Indian Express.
Retrieved from http://indianexpress.com/article/india/karnataka-govt-inks-mou-with-microsoft-to-use-artificial-intelligence-for-digital-
agriculture-4909470/ (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
27 Microsoft. (n.d.). Digital agriculture: Farmers in India are using AI to increase crop yields. Retrieved from https://news.microsoft.com/en-in/
features/ai-agriculture-icrisat-upl-india/ (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
28 Borpuzari, P. (1 December 2017). Robot harvester: This precision farm machine can shape the future of India’s agriculture. Economic
Times. Retrieved from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/features/robot-harvester-this-precision-farm-machine-
can-shape-the-future-of-indias-agriculture/articleshow/61763826.cms (last accessed on 10 April 2018)

Advance artificial intelligence for growth 15

Financial services
AI, ML and robotics have a wide range of use cases in
financial services. However, their potential has not been An Indian robot manufactured in China, ‘Mitra’,
fully realised in India. On the upside, though, financial is able to recognise the nationalities of and guide
services giants and FinTech firms have joined hands on customers in a bank. It has been deployed at the
proof-of-concept initiatives centred on the use of AI and Bengaluru branch of a prominent Indian bank.30
ML to automate and streamline workflows in institutions.
This includes the use of chatbots to facilitate automated
Powered by customer data captured using different
conversational flows and efficient customer service,
sensors, AI, robotic process automation (RPA) and IoT are
intelligent agents such as robo-advisors for personalised
gaining a foothold within the insurance sector in areas
financial planning, and advanced algorithms to facilitate
such as improving underwriting efficiency and automated
fraud detection and prevention of money laundering.
handling of claims.

One of the world’s leading trade finance banks is

A Bengaluru-based firm specialises in providing RPA
working with technology giants in the AI and ML space
solutions (among other technologies), having provided
to develop cognitive solutions that combine robotics
solutions in areas within insurance like claims
and optical character recognition (OCR) to increase
registration, credit note refunds, policy cancellations,
the safety and efficiency of trades.29
no claims discount verification and policy issuance.31

Large financial bodies such as payment regulators handle

The financial services sector is critical to economic stability
billions of transactions each day across different channels
and the possible implications of data privacy and security
such as ATM withdrawals, credit card payments, and
concerns are significantly high in this sector. Some of
e-commerce transactions. Advanced analytical techniques
the enablers of AI adoption in the financial services
and ML algorithms, combined with human expertise allow
sector could be:
institutions to flag transactions as potentially fraudulent at
the time of occurrence and hence contain the damage as a. Making anonymised data available from past
early as possible. transactions from across different financial institutions
The advent of intelligent technologies comes at a time when b. Establishing data access frameworks and guidelines for
the government is pushing towards financial inclusion open application interfaces from financial institutions
across the Indian economy by introducing schemes like Jan
c. Provision training for employees in banking and
Dhan and Cashless India. The importance of AI systems
financial services on monitoring and calibrating AI
for drawing insights from large volumes of data and
and RPA systems to ensure compliance with regulatory
ensuring transparency, speed and efficiency and regulatory
policies and guidelines
compliance cannot be overstated.
In addition, automated workflows and algorithmic risk
scoring in banking and non-banking financial institutions
can further reduce incidents of breaches in compliance
arising from malpractices, lapses in human judgement, and
low visibility on financial exposure to certain counterparties
and more. This would be expressly valuable to the lending
segment which has recently come under the microscope
with respect to the risk assessment techniques used.
Innovations in AI such as ‘lean data learning’ techniques
could allow institutions to assess micro businesses and
SMEs on limited historical data and in turn improve
capital access to them.
AI, ML and robotics can potentially revolutionise customer
experience, especially at the ‘last mile’, by providing
more personalised services and improving the back-office
efficiencies at financial institutions.

29 Economic Times CIO (10 August 2017). HSBC and IBM build cognitive intelligence solution to digitise global trade. Retrieved from https://
cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/business-analytics/hsbc-and-ibm-build-cognitive-intelligence-solution-to-digitise-global-
trade/60004818 (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
30 PTI. (21 September 2017). Indian robot made in China steals the show at IT event. IBEF. Retrieved from https://www.ibef.org/news/indian-
robot-made-in-china-steals-the-show-at-it-event (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
31 Sarkar, D. (2017). Robotic process automation in insurance industry. Nalashaa. Retrieved from http://www.nalashaa.com/robotic-process-
automation-insurance-industry/ (last accessed on 10 April 2018)

16 PwC
Education
Indian start-ups are successfully using AI to improve the The key enablers of AI-led transformation in the
quality of education. Data collected from students can be education sector are:
used to help them work on past mistakes through a process
a. Tie-ups with universities and professional course
of feedback and personalised recommendations provided
content creators to effectively distribute open online
through an AI platform.32 This in turn helps students
course materials, conduct examinations through
improve their scores over time. To a certain extent, it also
standardised evaluation templates and arrange for
resolves the problem of teachers being unable to provide
clearance-based certifications in the areas of AI,
individual attention to students and of the differential
ML and robotics
pace of student learning. ML techniques are also used to
provide feedback to teachers themselves. For example, by b. An overhaul of the curriculum so as to modularise the
identifying areas where students lack clarity, the platform syllabus to meet individual needs and aspirations
can help teachers act on their knowledge delivery and
c. Coverage of foundational courses in data science,
rectify the gaps.
statistics, ML, AI, robotics, communication technology,
Robotic teaching assistants connected over the cloud may cyber security, big data and analytics at the
alleviate the inaccessibility of experienced knowledge undergraduate and postgraduate levels
practitioners in remote locations by emulating their
d. Pedagogical upgrades so as to include industry and
teaching style, either on a standalone basis or in real-time
public sector cases where AI techniques have been
collaboration with human teachers.
historically applied to leverage learnings about the
implementation lifecycle and outcomes
Globally, an example of AI integration in the education e. Provision of educational opportunities that extend
sector is an AI development company that has created beyond the formative years into late adulthood—
smart content services for secondary education that catering to a working population with the objective
help disseminate textbook content as ‘smart’ study of making learning and re-skilling an incremental
guides containing summaries and flashcards.33 exercise over one’s career

32 Dalal, M. (20 May 2017). 10 standout start-ups taking an AI leap in India. Livemint. Retrieved from https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/
u7M3e5ymwmGf6QRLaXBoAJ/10-standout-startups-taking-an-AI-leap-in-India.html (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
33 Fagella, D. (1 September 2017). Examples of artificial intelligence in education. Tech Emergence. Retrieved from https://www.
techemergence.com/examples-of-artificial-intelligence-in-education/ (last accessed on 10 April 2018)

Advance artificial intelligence for growth 17

Consumer and retail National security and defence
AI-powered products and services such as digital AI finds application in the fields of defence and security
assistants, customer service bots, and recommendation as well. It can be leveraged to protect economic sectors
engines for e-commerce and entertainment portals are and infrastructure such as airports and power plants that
just a few examples of AI making inroads into the lives are vulnerable to attacks. Anomalous behaviour detection
of consumers. AI has been deployed by Indian start-ups in individuals and infrastructure disruption prediction
to improve user experience by providing personalised (natural/man-made causes) powered by the use of
suggestions, preference-based browsing and image- distributed sensors and pattern recognition are just a few
based product search. examples of the potential use cases of AI in this sector.
Along with AI applications in defence, robots can be used
As per Gartner, AI bots will power 85% of customer to perform jobs which are unsafe for humans—such as
service interactions by 2020. This may drive up to 33 recovering explosives, detecting mines, space exploration,
trillion USD of annual economic growth.34 deep water probes, scouting for hostile territories and
capturing video feed, to name a few.
The usage of AI and robots in defence and military began with
Additional uses for AI applications include personalised unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned ground
design and production, deep learning for predicting systems (UGS) guided bombs and missiles. Future applications
customer demand and orders, and efficient inventory and of AI and robotics in unmanned systems are likely to include:
delivery management.
• Target identification and classification using image
In the retail store setting, shopper-friendly robots can help processing and interpretation
assist shoppers by directing them towards the appropriate
product stocked in a particular section of the store. • Expert systems used to diagnose weapon systems like
radars and missiles
• Precision targeting systems for ammunitions leading to
The operator and parent company of one of India’s
improved accuracy
largest retail chains has launched a consumer
and digital lab that will focus on new innovative • Trajectory analysis, impact zone and kill zone evaluation
technologies such as AI, IoT and robotics for solutions using computerised simulations
in the consumer space. The objective behind this is to
enhance retail experiences in areas like payments, The electrically powered remotely operated vehicle
unique customer identification, personalised (ROV) Daksh can locate, handle and dismantle
exchanges and supply chain automation.35 hazardous objects such as explosive devices. Although it
is not fully automated, developments in AI are currently
under way to achieve this. In the US, the Hummingbird
The key enablers of AI-led transformation in the consumer
drone (DARPA) is a small unmanned machine used for
and retail sector are:
capturing and sending video imagery.36
a. Establishment of strong frameworks for consumer data
protection and product safety as well as access to quick Effective application of AI for defence and national security
and effective means of recourse in case of violations is contingent on the following enabling criteria:
b. Directing consumer engagement through human-AI a. Inclusion of experts from a range of multidisciplinary
interfaces such as augmented and virtual reality so fields such as the army, navy, air force, special forces,
that developments in these areas drive inclusion (of humanitarian studies, psychology, international law,
differently abled citizens, children and elderly groups, diplomats and academicians to frame policies outlining
etc.) and provide oversight against predatory and acceptable and unacceptable practices when it comes to
exploitative marketing tactics the use of autonomous offence and defence systems
c. Promotion of greater visibility into remotely based and b. Set-up of network and platform to
lesser known groups of artisans and craftsmen using feed information from across a range
intelligent interfaces to increase their reach of sources—e.g., security cameras
and critical infrastructure, imagery
and video surveillance from aircraft,
radar and satellite feeds, human
intelligence, signal intelligence—into
AI platforms for real-time processing
of information and recognition of
patterns for threat detection

34 Dhanrajani, S. (5 December 2017). Bracing for impact – AI led disruption. NASSCOM Community Blog. Retrieved from https://community.
nasscom.in/community/discuss/it-services/wcit-nilf2018/blog/2017/12/05/bracing-for-impact-ai-led-disruption (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
35 PTI. (14 April 2017). Future group to set up C&D Lab in Bengaluru. Hindu Business Line. Retrieved from https://www.thehindubusinessline.
com/companies/future-group-to-set-up-campd-lab-in-bengaluru/article9639675.ece (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
36 Kumar, C. (2017). Army to get self-reliant, autonomous robots soon. Economic Times (Defence). Retrieved from https://economictimes.
indiatimes.com/news/defence/army-to-get-self-reliant-autonomous-robots-soon/articleshow/57466543.cms (last accessed on 10 April 2018)

18 PwC
Public and utility services
For public sector entities such as large energy, power
and utility companies, AI and ML hold high potential in The 2015 Draft Policy on IoT (revised), published
the areas of smart metering—real-time information on by the Department of Electronics & Information
energy usage which reduces wastage and loss, efficient Technology (DeitY), emphasised the government’s plan
grid operation, and storage and predictive infrastructure of developing 100 smart cities under the Digital India
maintenance—thus benefiting companies and consumers programme. Some of the key aspects of smart cities
through cost-effective supply and usage of energy and highlighted were smart parking, intelligent transport
leading to more secure supplies and fewer outages. systems, smart urban lighting, waste management,
Customers can tailor their energy requirements through smart city maintenance, telecare, citizen safety, smart
the use of smart meters and thus reduce costs. The data grid, smart energy and water management.37
generated in the process could be used for customised
tariffs and more efficient supply.
AI can further be applied to strengthen public infrastructure
AI, ML and IoT form a crucial component of the such as railways, civil aviation, nuclear plants,
government’s vision of smart cities and smart industrial telecommunication towers and power stations. Predictive
zones. Cities provide a wealth of information that can be maintenance using advanced analytical models can help
captured through various sources—mass transportation improve the availability of such infrastructure and reduce
tickets, cameras and sensors on roads, pavements, safety incidents associated with them.
airports, malls, tax information, police filings, etc.—thus
creating endless possibilities for improving the quality of In order to maximise the utility of AI systems in public
services for citizens. sector and utilities, the following enablers need to
be in place:
Deep learning algorithms can assimilate the volumes of
data captured using IoT devices and generate actionable a. Provisions for large-scale communication networks with
insights. They make it possible to figure out patterns sensors capturing information like infrastructure health,
of footfall in public spaces over a timeline, peak loads natural resource availability, chemical properties, geo-
of vehicles and parking lots, and to identify increased tagged data providing precise locational intelligence
incidence of crime at locations, among various other b. Increased involvement of bodies like Indian Space
applications. One of the most prominent outcomes would Research Organisation (ISRO) and Indian Regional
be monitoring real-time resource usage of public facilities— Navigation Satellite Systems (IRNSS) for setting up and
power, heat, water, fuel, etc.—and autonomously calibrating geo platforms
adjusting inputs based on usage patterns, thus leading to
significant savings.

37 DeitY, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology. (2015). Draft Policy on Internet of Things. Retrieved from https://www.
mygov.in/sites/default/files/master_image/Revised-Draft-IoT-Policy-2.pdf (last accessed on 10 April 2018)

Advance artificial intelligence for growth 19

Accessibility technology for the differently abled
AI-enabled assistive technology for differently abled India is growing in terms of the quality of smart prosthetics,
individuals is an as yet untapped market in India. While incorporating newer designs and technologies. However,
certain accessibility features are sometimes present in it lags behind more developed countries when it comes to
devices like smartphones, they are often secondary and not quality and advancements. Also, affordability is a barrier
necessarily built in keeping in mind consumer centricity for for those differently abled people who fall within the lower
the particular demographic.38 income groups. AI, in combination with other emerging
technologies like 3D printing and IoT, has great potential to
An example of AI-embedded accessibility features for the
fuel widespread availability, affordability and feasibility of
differently abled is the automatic captioning employed by
innovations in smart prosthetics.
leading video streaming sites, aimed at catering to people
with full or partial hearing impairment. Similarly, AI holds
high potential for easing the daily activities of people with A global technology leader has partnered with the
visual, speech or mobility impairments and allowing them Chinese Academy of Sciences in order to develop a
to operate at higher levels of productivity. For example, prototype which translates sign language into spoken
smartphone apps with built-in image processing capabilities language in real time.41
can describe an object or scene or read the text of bills and
documents to a visually impaired person.39 A leading player in AI and ML is using language
processing software for a tool that helps people with
cognitive impairments like autism or dementia by
A global technology giant, in collaboration with an breaking up complex and lengthy sentences into
Indian eye institute, recently launched a mission- simpler terms.42
driven global consortium of like-minded commercial,
research and academic institutions, who have joined
hands to use AI to help eliminate preventive blindness Some of the key enablers for furthering AI-led innovation in
and scale delivery of eye-care services worldwide.40 products and services for the differently abled include:
a. Focused research and development in perceptual
interfaces—computer-aided vision, speech and language
with greater impetus to their commercialisation
b. Close coordination between technology innovations and
NGOs so as to maximise reach

38 Umachandrani, S. (7 November 2017). How tech is making life easier for differently-abled. The Times of India. Retrieved from https://
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/how-tech-is-making-life-easier-for-differently-abled/articleshow/61538902.cms (last accessed on
10 April 2018)
39 Ibid.
40 Mahalaskshmi, B. V. (12 June 2017). Augmenting ability: Microsoft using AI, smart glass tech to aid differently-abled. Financial Express.
Retrieved from http://www.financialexpress.com/industry/technology/augmenting-ability-microsoft-using-ai-smart-glass-tech-to-aid-
differently-abled/713096/ (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
41 Ibid.
42 Simonite, T. (23 March 2017). Machine learning opens up new ways to help people with disabilities. MIT Technology Review. Retrieved
from https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603899/machine-learning-opens-up-new-ways-to-help-disabled-people/ (last accessed on
10 April 2018)

20 PwC
Environment
AI has been successfully applied in the environmental Smart transportation systems
sciences globally towards the following objectives. While AI
• Autonomous vehicles can improve the energy efficiency
technologies for environmental sciences have not picked up
of road transport by identifying most energy-efficient
significantly in India yet, globally, they have been making
routes and speeds.
waves. Some of the leading areas where AI has been applied
towards environmental causes are: • Big data, IoT and cloud-enabled vehicles communicate
with transport infrastructure, which helps in managing
AI optimised ‘smart’ energy grids for power generation
vehicle flows, eco-driving and effective traffic control.
• AI optimised energy system modelling and forecasting
• AI-enabled autonomous drones and sensors linked to
decreases unpredictability and increases efficiency,
IoT platforms can offer real-time traffic and logistics
power balancing, use, and storage of renewable energy
information for optimised routing.
through intelligent grids
• Neural networks for solar: Can improve the reliability
and affordability of photovoltaic energy Researchers in Beijing, China have tested an AI system
that can predict the severity of pollution levels in
• Smart lighting and heating systems: To utilise lighting different areas. It is eventually expected to become
and heating only when required capable of providing recommendations for controlling
pollution levels, such as relocating factories and
A large global technology and AI leader launched traffic density restrictions. The ‘adaptive machine
‘Project Sunroof’, an online tool based on Google learning’ approach is deemed to generate results
Earth’s 3D imagery that helps individual homeowners that are around 30% more accurate than those of
explore whether they should go solar by providing conventional approaches.44
them with a viability report. This is done by analysing
everything from high-resolution aerial mapping
and 3D modelling of residential roofs based on sun Monitoring of land usage and soil erosion
position, weather patterns, shadows cast by objects, • AI-enabled automated land-use change monitoring
typical electricity consumption, etc.43 will aid in detecting and monitoring deforestation.
Transparency of real-time land use practices can be
enabled by drones, advanced satellites, IoT sensors
Precision manufacturing for reduced waste and the cloud, which will be a game changer for
and emissions implementing smart land use practices and driving
accountability in agriculture and forestry value chains.
• Reducing energy consumption and release of harmful
gases and waste Disaster management and recovery
• Precision strength: Robots minimising the need for • Software applications of ML can detect patterns
larger less efficient machines leading to a natural disaster (e.g. rotation tracks of
• Eliminating product waste: More efficient use of cyclones, tornadoes).
raw materials • Machine leaning models can estimate the range and
• Industrial lifecycle tracking: Optimising maintenance, severity of impact and trigger automated alerts and
energy efficiency, recycling of machinery warnings with lead time for evacuation and risk control
mitigation measures.
Smart homes and smart cities
• Autonomous robots and vehicles can find utility in
• Smart sensors in offices and homes can increase highly hazardous and contaminated ecosystems
safety by indicating and possibly taking remedial in recovery and clean-up, such as a nuclear
action against catastrophic risks such as fire, floods reactor meltdown.
and earthquakes.
• In the event of a flood or earthquake, robots can be used
• Sustainable building design can maximise energy and to navigate tortuous locations, including small spaces,
product efficiency in building design and improve underwater areas and debris-ridden sites.
energy efficiency by switching heating and air-
conditioning on or off at the right times to exploit
off peak rates.
• Energy monitors which can learn electrical signatures
in a smart office or home to generate insights and alerts
on energy usage.

43 Google, (December 2016). Google Environmental Report. Retrieved from https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.com/

en//green/pdf/google-2016-environmental-report.pdf#page=62 (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
44 Knight, W. (31 August 2015). How artificial intelligence can fight air pollution in China. MIT Technology Review. Retrieved from https://www.
technologyreview.com/s/540806/how-artificial-intelligence-can-fight-air-pollution-in-china/ (last accessed on 10 April 2018)

Advance artificial intelligence for growth 21

Disease prevention and outbreak control
• ML models have been used to predict location and
severity of disease outbreaks and whether an outbreak
should receive immediate attention.
• Researchers had used satellite data to trace the
relationship between temperatures in the equatorial
part of the Indian Ocean, leading to conditions suitable
for an increase in mosquitoes and the outbreak of
malaria in Africa.

Conservation of ecological habitats

Software developed with help from the Wildlife

Conservation Society (WCS) is used to calculate tiger
populations and investigate poaching activities in an
area by matching their stripe patterns captured on
camera, similar to the fingerprinting process.45

Using AI for environmental protection and conservation will

depend on the successful set-up of the following enablers:
a. Capturing data on pollution levels generated by airborne
particulates, water and solid waste and effluents using a
network of sensors and communication devices
b. Defined thresholds and standards for measuring the
efficacy of AI systems in controlling pollution levels

45 Science Daily. (18 March 2009). Tracking tigers in 3-D. Wildlife Conservation Society. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedaily.com/
releases/2009/03/090312134639.htm (last accessed on 10 April 2018)

22 PwC
3.3. Growth of the start-up ecosystem
India has seen several start-ups mushroom in the AI, Start-ups specialising in AI, ML and robotics have
ML, big data and cloud space46 which are attracting the contributed significantly to innovation in these fields
interest of investors, a significant number of whom offer over the last few years. Digital technologies have created
products and services in healthcare, FinTech, customer opportunities and allowed them to set up new revenue
services and education. This is further propelled by the streams around these new technologies. These start-
government’s flagship initiatives of Make in India and ups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
Startup India. Smaller and nimbler start-up organisations can become suppliers of comprehensive solutions
are now becoming potent challengers to the existing which are either stand-alone or integrated applications
market leaders through innovation and the adoption which can be adopted by businesses and consumers.
of newer technologies. Other than generating new revenue streams, they can
take advantage of new technologies to produce quality
This shows great potential for AI/ML growth in India. Large
products at cheaper costs.
IT services companies are already coming up with their
AI platforms, while smaller niche AI start-ups are tracking
specific problems, thus creating a holistic ecosystem for A US-based computer software company acquired
AI to thrive in India. AI start-ups in India are venturing a small Hyderabad-based company that specialises
into multiple industries, such as e-commerce, healthcare, in helping e-commerce players store, process,
education, and financial services, and retail and logistics. and visualise data, and use that data to improve
conversion rates.47

3.4. Academic research and inroads into AI

AI research has gained significant traction in some of the
premier technology-focused educational institutions, One of the prominent IITs in eastern India is
including the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and setting up an AI research Centre of Excellence that
the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). In recent years, many covers education, training, research, projects and
AI-focused start-ups have been either incubated by their entrepreneurship opportunities. The centre is expected
founders during their academic years or by alumni from the to be seed funded for around 5.6 crore INR for
aforementioned technical institutes. For instance, students infrastructure, software, simulation platforms and
of a prominent technical institute in the southern part of courseware design.50
India have come up with a patented technology that uses
AI to predict and diagnose medical conditions like diabetes,
cancer and neurological disorders.48 However, much remains to be done in order to bring
Elsewhere, alumni teams of a prestigious engineering up the level of breakthrough research and outcomes
institution have built an AI-powered tool for social media from the Indian academic institutions, especially when
marketers which can help businesses create trending compared to their global counterparts. According to an
content, automate social media posts and identification of article in Analytics India Magazine, nearly 70% of AI
leads, thereby creating opportunities to expand their brand research in India is taking place at the headquarters of
with a minimal promotional cost.49 non-Indian companies. Within academia, the engineering
talent is still largely focused on IT as opposed to research
and innovation—only around 15 universities in India
contribute 42% of all research publications arising from
universities and colleges.51

46 Kamakoti, V. & others (20 March 2018). Report of the Artificial Intelligence Task Force. Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.
Retrieved from http://dipp.nic.in/whats-new/report-task-force-artificial-intelligence (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
47 Singh, S. (24 November 2016). India-based AI startups draw attention of tech biggies like Apple, Facebook. Economic Times. Retrieved
from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/india-based-ai-startups-draw-attention-of-tech-biggies-like-apple-
facebook/articleshow/55589444.cms (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
48 Nair, D. (2017). 21-year-old IIT Madras student-entrepreneur’s patented AI tech helps doctors predict future. YourStory. Retrieved from
https://yourstory.com/2018/03/iit-madras-entrepreneur-ai-tech-orbuculum/ (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
49 Krishna, V. (24 March 2018). IIT alumnus builds AI-powered tool for social media marketers. YourStory. Retrieved from https://yourstory.
com/2018/03/iit-alumnus-builds-ai-powered-tool-social-media-marketers/ (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
50 Mahalakshmi. (8 March 2018). IIT Kharagpur to boost artificial intelligence research. Financial Express. Retrieved from http://www.
financialexpress.com/industry/technology/iit-kharagpur-to-boost-artifical-intelligence-research/1090892/ (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
51 Sinha, S. (March 2018). Where artificial intelligence research in India is heading. Analytics India Magazine. Retrieved from https://
analyticsindiamag.com/where-artificial-intelligence-research-in-india-is-heading/ (last accessed on 10 April 2018)

Advance artificial intelligence for growth 23

4. Perceived impact of AI
on business and society

A survey conducted by PwC in 201852 on the perceived and its potential to address socioeconomic concerns and
impact of AI among Indian business decision makers and improve productivity for businesses.
regular employees revealed widespread optimism about AI

We sampled business decision makers and regular employees engaged in Indian firms via a nationwide online survey to explore:

• Attitudes towards artificial intelligence

• Its current and future implications on society
• Which areas within businesses and our lives are most likely to be impacted by AI

Personalisation
Potential of AI to address Transforming the Impact of AI on
and augmented
socioeconomic concerns workplace using AI businesses
intelligence using AI

52 P
 wC. (2018). Artificial intelligence in India – hype or reality. Retrieved from https://www.pwc.in/consulting/technology/data-and-analytics/
artificial-intelligence-in-india-hype-or-reality.html (last accessed on 10 April 2018)

24 PwC
Some of the key findings of the survey are discussed below.

4.1. Impact on society and individuals

The survey sought to understand existing perceptions of • 58–74% of the participants indicated a positive outlook
the impact of AI and robotics on broad social and economic on the likelihood that AI will aid socioeconomic causes
causes as well as AI-enabled service delivery. The results like economic growth, health and well-being, education,
showed an overwhelmingly optimistic view on the impact cyber security and privacy, and that the government
of AI, with over 71% of the participants believing that would take steps towards their application for the same.
AI will help humans solve complex problems and live
more enriched lives.

Gap between the percentage of participants who think AI is important for a cause and that businesses and the government will apply AI
for the same

Economic growth 8%

Cyber-security/privacy 5%

Global health and well-being 9%

Global education 9%

Gender equality 1%

Income equality 1%

Source: PwC report on ‘AI in India – hype or reality?’

• However, for causes like health and well-being,

education and economic growth, participants perceived
a gap (of 8–9%) in the likelihood of AI supporting
them and government implementation. This could be
indicative of the need to channel AI innovation and
application in these areas. For instance, around 67%
of participants felt that AI should be applied towards
offering educational aid to disadvantaged children,
while 64% thought that it should be leveraged to
provide affordable services to low-income adults.
• In terms of personalisation and interaction with
humans, AI solutions are seen in a positive light by the
Indian populace: 61% of participants indicated having
used digital assistants with perceived benefits that
range from saving time, managing calendar events and
reminders, and helping get things done. Further, 72% of
Indian business decision makers feel that AI can provide
better one-to-one personalisation compared to humans.
• In terms of AI-rendered services, nearly half (49%) of
the participants indicated that they would be willing
to pay extra for ‘smarter and higher touch customer
service’ run by AI, preferably with access to human
agents when required.

Advance artificial intelligence for growth 25

4.2. Impact on businesses and the workplace
Business decision makers from across sectors and functions • Business decision makers perceive specific AI-powered
who were surveyed indicated the growing importance of solutions to be most impactful in their sector or
AI-powered solutions for their businesses. function. The most commonly cited ones include
ML, virtual private assistants, decision support
• Close to 55% of business decision makers believed
systems and automated research, and information
that the benefits of AI for business through generating
aggregation solutions.
growth and boosting productivity will outweigh
potential employment concerns.

How AI advisors are perceived in terms of fairness in giving If you were up for a promotion against another employee, who
promotions and raises would you want to make the decision?

17%
25%

83%
75%

More or equally fair Less fair AI advisor only or a combination Human manager
of a human and an AI advisor
Source: PwC report on ‘AI in India – hype or reality?’

• The research also yielded the insight that AI advisors

and managers may play a more crucial role in
the workplace of the future. Indeed, 83% of the
business decision makers believe that an ‘AI advisor’
at work would be either more or at least equally
rational and impartial in monitoring performance
and giving promotions and raises as compared to
humans. Further, 75% of them felt that they would be
comfortable with AI advisors (alone or potentially in
collaboration with human advisors) taking decisions
regarding their promotion.
• The perceived positive impact of having AI systems
integrated at the workplace was evident from the
fact that over 75% of business decision makers were
convinced that AI managers would create newer,
more collaborative opportunities for work; allow for
a balanced workload; free up people from menial
and repetitive tasks; and provide more freedom and
flexibility at work.

26 PwC
5. Tackling the challenges of AI
innovation and integration

5.1. Integrating AI into industries

A 2018 study by PwC on the impact of AI on Indian businesses53 found that high costs and the ‘lack of technical ability and
quality data rank among the key concerns of business decision makers when integrating AI into the workplace.

Key barriers to AI integration for businesses

20%

14%
12% 12%
11%
10%
9%

High costs Lack of technical Lack of quality Privacy Concerns of trust Too many Lack of skilled
ability data concerns unknowns teams to manage

Source: PwC report on ‘AI in India – hype or reality?’

Even though the current concern for AI is cost, this may AI integration and cognitive transformation require time
not remain very relevant as AI becomes more affordable and investment. In this regard, organisations would do
and ubiquitous. Once we reach that stage, data privacy well if they prioritise and single-out key process and
and loss of human touch and expertise would stand out decision flows that:
as the biggest barriers for AI adoption among consumers.
a. could be automated with relative ease and with ready
This future challenge needs to be addressed by businesses
availability of the primary asset—that is, data;
and the government.
b. could contribute towards concrete and immediate
returns along the lines of improved efficiency, cost
As per PwC’s 20th CEO survey, 87% of top CEOs/
savings and customer reach.
management have concerns regarding the availability
of key skills related to AI.54 Shared AI insight, governance and collaboration, facilitated
by a team of champions, would prove to be crucial towards
preventing confusion and silos of programmes. While the
A comprehensive understanding of the current operational enabling hardware and platform ecosystems for AI and
pain points within firms and the industry, at large, ML solutions are being commoditised, the technical skill
should serve as a starting point for business leaders to capital required for effectively capturing and analysing
effectively anticipate the magnitude and urgency of change data is slowly turning out to be prime assets for companies.
approaching them. This is rather important considering Data science professionals, statisticians, robotics engineers
that a large number of the survey participants have and domain experts are highly sought after today. Leaders
indicated costs to be an inhibiting factor in AI integration will need to undertake initiatives to build or acquire and
in businesses. It is, therefore, imperative that executives sustain people with such skills as AI gathers pace to cover
choose their programmes based on feasibility and returns. the perceived lack of technical ability to manage such
transformative projects.
53 PwC. (2018). Artificial intelligence in India – hype or reality. Retrieved from https://www.pwc.in/consulting/technology/data-and-analytics/
artificial-intelligence-in-india-hype-or-reality.html (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
54 PwC. (2017). The talent challenge: Harnessing the power of human skills in the machine age. Retrieved from https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/
ceo-survey/2017/deep-dives/ceo-survey-global-talent.pdf (last accessed on 10 April 2018)

Advance artificial intelligence for growth 27

5.2. Safeguarding data privacy and security
With the increasing volume of data and intensity of
cyberattacks, the threat of information theft and damage MeitY is working closely with the Ministry of Human
is exceedingly high, to the point that organisations cannot Resource Development (MHRD) to introduce cyber
purely rely on manpower to spot such threats and come up security into school curriculums to educate students
with technologies to prevent or contain them. about cyber threats.56
A 2018 PwC AI impact research survey55 found that
concerns regarding data privacy are nearly unanimous It becomes imperative in such a scenario to have a strong
(93% of the participants) to the point that people are policy outlining how and when companies can capture,
reluctant to share, for example, their medical data even if process and share individual data with third parties. In a
it could provide more personalised knowledge about their healthcare setting, for example, governing policies could
health. The concerns were, however, less severe when it lead to privacy breaches caused by patient conditions being
came to less intrusive data like transportation patterns, collected and shared by hospitals with other companies or
where participants were more willing to share such agents without a patient’s consent.
information (57% of participants) if it helped them get
out of traffic quickly. For AI and robotic applications and platforms, especially
those that function autonomously, such as self-driving
AI-enabled cyber security systems rely on historical data cars and predictive profiling, establishing robust legal
of cyberattacks and apply ML to predict and detect similar and ethical boundaries outlined through policymaking
threats likely to arise in the future. Having automated could direct developers and leaders of AI firms so that
systems in place for monitoring and detecting risks helps their products are responsible, transparent and meet
to free up human agents from the time-consuming tasks of the checklist of acceptable conditions before they are
having to continually check and categorise these red flags launched in the market.
based on their threat level. Intelligent automation triggers
these red flags based on volumes of data which humans
may not have the time or cognitive resources to search
through. If more sophisticated deep learning systems are
developed, organisations may have a lead over the dynamic
actions of cybercriminals.
The counterargument to AI for cyber security is that
cybercriminals may also tap into such technologies to
automate various forms of attack, leading to a potential
situation with AI applications trying to hack other AI
systems. In these cases, human intervention may be
necessary to correctly segregate ‘true positives’ from
‘false positive’ threats.

55 PwC. (2018). Artificial intelligence in India – hype or reality. Retrieved from https://www.pwc.in/consulting/technology/data-and-analytics/
artificial-intelligence-in-india-hype-or-reality.html (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
56 Capital market. (12 March 2018). Centre working on introducing cyber security in CBSE school curriculum. Business Standard. Retrieved
from http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-cm/centre-working-on-introducing-cyber-security-in-cbse-school-curriculum-meity-
official-118031200103_1.html (last accessed on 10 April 2018)

28 PwC
5.3. Assimilating human-AI interaction models
Based on a 2018 study by PwC on the impact of AI, some • Being unable to grasp customer-specific problems
of the key concerns related to AI-run customer services,
• Difficulty in explaining the exact problem
as indicated by the participants, include loss of human
touch (66% of the participants), responses that do not • Inability to pick up human cues, which in turn hampers
adequately address user concerns, data privacy concerns the AI system’s learning ability
and operational difficulty.
• Inability to contextualise a situation
Further, participants highlighted the commonly faced
• Dependence on generic standard responses as a panacea
challenges associated with AI-run customer service,
to more nuanced problems
which included:

Key concerns associated with AI-run customer service

66%

27%
23% 23% 21%

12%

Loss of human touch Not accurate Too invasive/loss of Difficult to operate Breaking/being Wastes my time
privacy unavailable

Source: PwC report on ‘AI in India – hype or reality?’

‘May not pick up on human cues, if not

‘AI won’t be able to understand
programmed accordingly. May not know that
some customer-specific problems.’
something is worth learning.’
‘If your query is not
‘Difficulty in part of the list then ‘Lack of ability to
explaining the you feel cheated.’ contextualise the situation’
exact problem’
‘They give standard
responses and issues that
are too generalised.’

Source: PwC report on ‘AI in India – hype or reality?’

In the present scenario, an AI-powered customer service differentiated, convenient and seamless experience and
set-up may also require the safety net of ‘human touch’ greater engagement, and provide them with an ‘adjustment’
so that customers do not feel neglected or cheated period as customer service interfaces inevitably become
and organisations are not perceived as negligent or more automated over time.
uncaring towards their customers. This will help create a

Advance artificial intelligence for growth 29

5.4. Ensuring that AI systems are accountable,
responsible and explainable
India has a multicultural society whose population has At the same time, AI systems need to incorporate an
varying levels of education and income. Therefore, explainable design. Explainable AI designs ensure that the
AI development and deployments, particularly in inner workings of an AI system are transparent and well
areas affecting a wide section of the population, such understood by the system owners and administrators, and
as civil services, must fall within the purview of the its outcomes can be explained beyond reasonable doubt
legal, cultural and ethical precedents applicable to the or ambiguity. Explainable AI is responsible for building AI
geography in question. models with accountability and the ability to describe or
depict why a certain decision was made by the algorithm.58
AI systems should be developed to operate in a responsible
This is especially important to establish public trust in AI
manner such that their outcomes do not adversely affect
systems and smoothen the assimilation of AI lead workflows
individuals or marginalise one or more sections of society.
across different processes.
Responsible AI ensures that its workings are aligned to
ethical standards and social norms pertinent within its In order for AI to be perceived as responsible and
scope of operations. For example, in military and defence, explainable over time, AI systems would need to be
the use of AI in combative equipment and robots must be made robust against attempts of outcome manipulation
aptly governed by laws of armed conflict and mandates such whether through contamination of training data or
as International Humanitarian Laws (IHLs). algorithmic tampering.
The above reasons will necessitate the formation
Over 50 scientists from across the globe had called of independent audit bodies and ethics panels to
for a boycott of a renowned university in South screen research proposals, design and develop, and
Korea which was undertaking research on AI-based commercialisation and periodic review and maintenance
command and decision systems such as autonomous of AI systems.
weaponised sentry robots utilising smart object Finally, it will be important to explicitly define performance
tracking and recognition. Cases such as these standards (and conduct timely evaluations against the
highlight the need for greater transparency so that all same) and document plans of action for scenarios where AI
parties are in agreement with AI research goals and systems operate in a manner deviating from their intended
deployment scenarios.57 functioning so that anomalies, should they arise, can be
identified, responded to and remedied at the earliest.

57 Hutson, M. (4 April 2018). South Korean university’s AI work for defense contractor draws boycott. Science Magazine. Retrieved from
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/04/korean-university-s-ai-work-defense-contractor-draws-boycott (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
58 Gunning, D. (n.d.). Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI). DARPA. Retrieved from https://www.darpa.mil/program/explainable-artificial-
intelligence (last accessed on 10 April 2018)

30 PwC
5.5. Managing the impact of AI on employment
Previous technological revolutions have resulted in the • Advisory solutions in human-AI collaboration
shuffling of peoples’ job profiles, markedly characterised – opportunities to compress human expertise and
by a shift away from monotonous and repetitive work knowledge via ML into computerised advisory solutions.
and towards high-involvement roles requiring human These might be particularly beneficial for agriculture,
judgement and interactions. With the initiation of rural healthcare and financial advice.
automation and implementation of AI in organisations,
• Greater levels of involvement of healthcare
there have been concerns regarding job displacement.
professionals – AI may free up physicians, nurses
While 65% of the participants from PwC’s 2018 AI impact and other care providers to apply themselves more
research survey59 indicated their belief that AI will have a severe intensively to the interactive, humane and empathetic
impact on employment in India, 55% stated that the benefits of side of care delivery and also to prioritise their time and
AI for businesses, such as growth generation and productivity expertise towards critical cases.
boost, would outweigh potential employment-related concerns.
• Creation of new roles within IT services – AI-focused
Further, over 60–70% of the participants indicated that automation and the shift in IT service requirements
they would prefer AI-enabled models that offer improved may see a relative move away from jobs like research
service and are more affordable over traditional models— analysts, data entry operators, system engineers and
for example, affordable and convenient autonomous test engineers towards newer roles such as AI research
transport over transport operated by traditional human scientists, language processing specialists, RPA
drivers and affordable intelligent legal services and developers, and man-machine teaming managers.
customer service solutions over traditional human-led
Given the widespread engagement of the Indian workforce
models. While employment-related concerns cannot be
in IT services and BPOs, the impact of AI-enabled
dismissed altogether, there is likely to be a shift from
automation, over the short term, is expected to be high.
traditional jobs to more evolved, high-involvement roles for
Overseas clients have been the mainstay in terms of revenue
humans in the future as efficiency, safety and standardised
generation for many Indian IT behemoths. As these clients
quality are expected to take precedence in certain services
employ intelligent automation for ‘no-shoring’ or ‘in-
over the natural course of development.
shoring’—that is, bringing processes back in-house—the
A recent report published by the Artificial Intelligence Task Indian IT services industry would need to re-skill a large
Force60 pegs (based on estimates cited in various Indian part of its workforce in AI and ML solutions and offerings to
publications) the AI industry in India to be worth 180 mitigate potential job losses.
million USD. Thirty-eight percent of AI professionals are
employed with large-sized companies and 33% with start-
ups. Bengaluru as a city alone accounts for around 37%
of AI-related jobs, followed by Delhi NCR and Mumbai,
together accounting for 36% of the jobs.
Furthermore, in the discourse on the potential impact of
AI-powered automation on the workforce, it would be
pragmatic to recognise ‘lump of labour’61 or ‘fixed-pie’
fallacies (i.e. the idea that there is a fixed amount of labour
requirement within an economy which can be distributed—
in this case, between humans or machines to increase or
decrease jobs). The slow adoption of AI could pose a greater
risk to economic growth and employment opportunities
in the future as trade investments get channelled towards
more advanced, efficient and cost-competitive economies.
AI is expected to create new areas of economic opportunity
and wealth creation, which will be an ingredient in
retaining key sectoral competitiveness and, in turn, jobs.
The ‘Report of the Task Force on Artificial Intelligence’ has
also highlighted a few noteworthy cases of new jobs that
may be created by AI. They include:
• ML schools – where humans may apply their innate
cognitive skills such as recognising images and faces
and interpreting language and speech to generate data
for training machines.

59 PwC. (2018). Artificial intelligence in India – hype or reality. Retrieved from https://www.pwc.in/consulting/technology/data-and-analytics/
artificial-intelligence-in-india-hype-or-reality.html (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
60 Kamakoti, V. & others. . (20 March 2018). Report of the Artificial Intelligence Task Force. Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.
Retrieved from http://dipp.nic.in/whats-new/report-task-force-artificial-intelligence (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
61 The Economist (adapted from Essential Economics by Matthew Bishop). (n.d.) Lump of labour fallacy. Retrieved from https://www.
economist.com/economics-a-to-z/l (last accessed on 10 April 2018)

Advance artificial intelligence for growth 31

5.6. Re-skilling the workforce for new-age employability
The breakneck pace of innovation in AI and robotics has While India is home to a large number of engineers
posed a challenge for academics and businesses, leading graduating from colleges every year (with a big proportion
to the need for trained personnel to create, maintain and of them specialising in IT), their skill sets—a result
permeate AI and ML solutions. This has translated into of their curriculum—are centred more on traditional
the need for skilled professionals who understand the software and applications as opposed to R&D in the field of
sector and domain, are able to analyse its data effectively, new age technology.
and for individuals with deep technology skills in data
manipulation and statistical modelling, which form the India—an arguably late entrant into the AI and robotics
backbone of innovations in AI. space—will be required to expedite the skilling of its talent
base to match the current level of demand.
While data science and programming competencies are
invaluable skills for new-age tech (AI, ML and robotics), Only a very small percentage of AI personnel in India
specific skill sets on algorithms—the base of these
have hands-on experience in cutting-edge technologies
technologies—are emerging as game changers.
like deep learning and neural networks, which are
a mainstay for advanced analytical solutions. – A
According to PwC’s 20th CEO Survey, 52% CEOs recruitment start-up66
are already exploring the benefits of humans and
machines working together and 39% are considering
the impact of AI on their future skills needs.62 New-age technologies such as AI and robotics usually
only have a minimal knowledge dependency on legacy
technologies such as language, platform or system.
Hence, one may, if he/she chooses, pick up these new-age
The skill sets expected to be held by the workforce
technologies with proper study while skimming through
of the future can be broadly classified into the
traditional programming or software applications.
following categories:
However, it might help to have certain basic knowledge of
• Technology, algorithmic and programmatic programming to speed up the learning process.
know-how: This is required to conceptualise, design
It might prove to be cost-effective and rewarding for
and implement systems and applications that make
organisations to strategically partner with academic
use of either one or more areas within AI (ML, natural
institutions, wherein experts in the fields of AI and ML
language processing and generation, video and speech
may be brought in to train employees who are new to these
analytics, etc.) to transform business processes and
technologies and thus diffuse knowledge in a way that helps
workflows.
employees quickly understand, retain and apply as much
• Strategic and operational decision making: This knowledge as would be required to perform the job at hand.
would be required to put into action insights gained
from applications using AI for enhancing performance,
reducing costs, gaining competitive advantages and
furthering social causes.
The demand for skills in AI and data science has grown
substantially over the last 3–5 years. These skills are no
longer confined only to the technology sector but are also of
importance in banking, retail, healthcare and other sectors.63
Leaders of AI and ML start-ups and established firms
have indicated64 time and again that they are facing
a dearth of applicants for their advertised positions.
The shortage of expertise and the lack of talent in
robotics, ML and advanced analytics is also creating
challenges for entrepreneurs.

Co-founders of a prominent AI firm in India indicated

that nearly 40% of their working time is spent
searching for the right talent.65

62 PwC. (2017). The talent challenge: Harnessing the power of human skills in the machine age. Retrieved from https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/
ceo-survey/2017/deep-dives/ceo-survey-global-talent.pdf (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
63 Narayanan, C. (2017). The skills shortage. The Hindu Business Line. Retrieved from http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/
columns/chitra-narayanan/the-skills-shortage/article9799112.ece (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
64 Punit, I. S. (2017). Indian engineers need to stop being so afraid of the term “artificial intelligence”. Quartz India. Retrieved from https://
qz.com/911261/indian-engineers-need-to-stop-being-so-afraid-of-the-words-artificial-intelligence/ (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
65 Ibid.
66 IANS. (21 June 2017). Acute talent shortage in AI, IoT industry, shows survey. Economic Times (Technology). Retrieved from https://tech.
economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/technology/acute-talent-shortage-in-ai-iot-industry-shows-survey/59254799 (last accessed on
10 April 2018)

32 PwC
Role of individuals
Considering the pace at which technology is evolving, it may be
difficult to predict the skills that will be needed even five years from
now. Hence, employees and businesses need to be ready to adapt.
Inevitably, most of the responsibility will be borne by an individual,
who will be required not only to adapt to organisational change but
also to acquire new and upcoming skills and capabilities throughout
his/her lifetime. This will help him/her in learning new tasks and
even retraining himself/herself at the middle of his her career.

Seventy-four percent of employees are ready to learn new

skills or completely retrain in order to remain employable in
the future. They believe that it’s their own responsibility to
update their skills rather than relying on any employer.67

Role of educational institutions

Considering the changes in the technology landscape and in
companies, academic institutions need to play a role in skill
development by creating an interface for students to connect with
industry professionals. Academic institutions can also encourage
and inspire students to work in the industry sector on different
real-life challenges pertaining to current technologies and
practices. These initiatives will help organisations to evaluate their
prospective employees and students to get more hands-on industry
experience.
Another activity that academic institutions could undertake is
upgrading their curriculum, workshops and laboratories with the
current industry requirements. Advanced technology infrastructure
and equipment have been installed in a few premier institutions.
This should be replicated across other institutions as well.

Role of businesses
As the use of AI increases within companies, it would help if
employees are aware about the complete AI ecosystem rather than
only their function. A unique way for tech companies to increase the
number of jobs available to people could be by using technologies
such as cognition and natural language processing and generation
to break down interconnected systems and tasks and, as a result,
sieve out creative and innovative tech jobs for humans.
Innovation will play a significant role for businesses in the
future. Fostering a culture of innovation driven by rewards
and recognition has become vital for organisations to identify
solutions to their challenges and use technology to address
them.68 Timely skill development of employees through training
will ensure smooth transition into new roles within a digitally
transformed organisation.

67 Stubbings, C., Williams, J., & Brown, J. (2017). Workforce of the future - The competing forces shaping 2030. PwC US. Retrieved from
https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/services/people-organisation/workforce-of-the-future/workforce-of-the-future-the-competing-forces-shaping-
2030-pwc.pdf (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
68 Basu, A., Chakrabarti, D., & Chakrabarti, A. (2017). Success stories and the road ahead technology-enabled manufacturing. PwC.
Retrieved from https://www.pwc.in/assets/pdfs/publications/2017/success-stories-and-the-road-ahead-technology-enabled-
manufacturing.pdf (last accessed on 10 April 2018)

Advance artificial intelligence for growth 33

6. The road ahead – policy
planning priorities for
the future
The government and organisations should not use AI, ML to identify a strategic need for AI such that it can solve their
and other new-age technologies just because others are business problems and benefit them.
using them. Instead of being followers, organisations need

6.1. Drive cross-border collaboration with

countries leading in AI research
Countries across the globe have already established strategy
councils or similar government bodies to facilitate and direct
AI research and innovation towards meeting social and
economic objectives.
Forming cooperative relationships with some of the
frontrunners in AI—such as Japan, the UK, Germany
Singapore, Israel and China—to develop solutions that
tackle social and economic challenges can aid and accelerate
strategy formulation. Exchanging best practices and
learnings from prior initiatives is one way of strengthening
cooperation. Government departments like the Ministry of
External Affairs and Department of Science and Technology
may take the lead in developing such relationships.

In Japan, the Strategic Council for AI Technology69 detailed

a projected industrial roadmap driven by a combination of
AI and related technologies while calling for the collective
wisdom of the industry, academia and the government to
accelerate the path from R&D to social implementation.
The report also identifies ‘productivity’, ‘health and
medical care’, and ‘mobility’ as the three priority areas
for AI based on perceived social necessity and expected
contributions from AI.
China has been making strides in AI. With an already
booming manufacturing sector, the natural next step is
expected to be technology enablement of the sector—an
area where AI and robotic automation can bring the
next economic miracle for the country. China’s 2017
‘New Generation AI Development Plan’70 issued by the
State Council of the People’s Republic of China stresses
healthy and sustainable AI through an open, cooperative
innovation system with further emphasis on predicting the
challenges of AI, coordinating with industrial and social
policies, reasonable regulation and risk prevention to
maximise the benefits of AI.

69 Strategic Council for AI Technology. (2017). Artificial intelligence technology strategy. Retrieved from http://www.nedo.go.jp/
content/100865202.pdf (last accessed on 10 April 2018)
70 Webster, G., Creemers, R., Triolo, P., & Kania, E. (1 August 2017). China’s plan to ‘lead’ in AI: Purpose, prospects, and problems. Retrieved
from https://www.newamerica.org/cybersecurity-initiative/blog/chinas-plan-lead-ai-purpose-prospects-and-problems/ (last accessed on
10 April 2018)

34 PwC
6.2. Create enabling environments for AI-led growth
Policy planning in AI must be aimed at creating an Some of the initiatives to bolster such an environment could
ecosystem that is supportive of research, innovation and be collecting quality training data (e.g. from public portals)
commercialisation of applications. and making it available for research and educational
purposes. A centralised approach to this may require
While academia and the private sector focus their research
setting up of digital data banks and exchanges to stream in
activities on finding applications with diverse usage, the
information from across industries.
public sector, with its various schemes (Digital India,
Make in India, Skill India, etc.), could identify areas where Further, secondary school and university curricula need
specific applications of AI and robotics can be utilised to to be revised in order inculcate an interest in AI and
increase reach, effectiveness and efficiency, thus giving its constituent areas. This will lead to higher rates of
direction to existing innovation across different fields. students actively pursuing higher education and careers
in these fields.
Regular cooperation will be required between academia
and the public and private sectors in order to identify Another enabling factor for AI growth would be setting up
and get a comprehensive view of problems faced by the centres of excellence supporting inter-disciplinary research
population and find intelligent and innovative ways across law, medicine, engineering, management and the
to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of services social sciences. Japan’s national R&D institute, ‘Riken’,71
delivered to society. An increase in the number of public- can serve as a comparative model. The institute conducts
private partnerships across industries and social projects is research in a broad array of areas such as engineering,
expected. These partnerships will be aimed at utilising the medical science and high-performance computing while
latest tools and techniques in AI to further the objectives pooling resources like hardware, computing power,
of inclusive growth. infrastructure and talent.

6.3. Strengthen data ownership, privacy

and security frameworks
AI, ML and robotics are largely dependent on volumes of
data. As a result, devices and applications making use of
these technologies are designed to continuously capture
and relay user information.
In such a scenario, it becomes imperative to have a strong
policy outlining how and when companies can capture,
process and share individual data with third parties. In a
healthcare setting, for example, governing policies could
lead to privacy breaches owing to the collection and
sharing of patient medical history by hospitals with other
companies or agents without a patient’s consent.
Similarly, policymakers could put in place mandates
that require cloud service providers to guarantee service
levels and physical locations of data centres used for their
customers (public and private) and provide adequate
compensatory cover in case of data loss or corruption.
For AI and robotic applications and platforms, especially
those that function autonomously, such as self-driving cars
and predictive profiling, establishing robust legal and ethical
boundaries through policies could direct developers and
leaders of AI firms so that their products are responsible,
transparent and meet the checklist of acceptable conditions
before they are launched in the market.
AI research and AI-based systems are highly
interdisciplinary in nature and would require standards of
operation involving multi-domain expertise. Some of these
include established guidelines for data storage, privacy,
communication protocols for automated systems and
interoperability between systems. In this context, India’s
participation in international standard-setting groups for
AI systems and the role of bodies like the Bureau of Indian
Standards will be crucial.

71 Riken (official site). Retrieved from http://www.riken.jp/en/about/ (last accessed on 10 April 2018)

Advance artificial intelligence for growth 35

6.4. Extend financial and non-financial
incentives to boost AI growth
A more direct approach by the Central and state
governments could be fiscal and non-fiscal incentives.
Non-fiscal incentives may include full or partial exemptions
from acts related to wages, inspections and shift operations.
Fiscal incentives may include partial reimbursements of
lease rentals, bandwidth and connectivity, coverage of fixed
power costs to the entity, full or partial reimbursements
of set-up and operational costs such as stamp duty,
transfer duty, registration fees, patent filing costs,
quality certifications, skill upgrade and training costs,
and subsidisation of capital investments, property taxes,
insurance premiums and maintenance charges.72
Further, policy initiatives could include the hosting of
industry events to recognise and award breakthrough
innovations in AI, ML, robotics, IoT, the cloud, and virtual
reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). This will garner
participation from established firms, SMEs, start-ups,
institutional teams and amateur developers, thus building
awareness and enthusiasm towards different technologies
in the process.
The above incentives would, however, require a framework
and a set of standards to aptly classify and certify firms and
projects as genuinely AI based and with actual potential for
addressing social relevant goals so that such incentives can
gain higher returns.

6.5. Leverage opportunities to shorten time-to-deploy

for AI-powered solutions
In line with the ideology that AI development and Within the private sector, larger firms can form strategic
innovation must be aligned towards addressing the larger alliances with start-ups and SMEs operating in the space
issues faced by businesses and society, there is a need for a to further accelerate development and commercialisation
practical and pragmatic approach towards AI use. Wherever opportunities. Start-ups and SMEs can bring down their
it can be done effectively, cost-consciously and with due capital investment by using technology on a shared basis.
consideration to national interest, opportunities to partner Established companies can bring affordable technology
with AI leaders, be they technology leaders or public bodies solutions to start-ups and help them upgrade and adopt
in countries across the globe, should be sought out to set in new technologies in a short span of time. In turn, these
motion pilot applications that utilise AI to bring short-term, start-ups could act as the technology research arm of one or
tangible and measurable benefits. more established firms and supply developed applications
to these larger firms at lower costs than they would to other
For instance, the government could act as a catalyst in
players. This would help in the formulation of ‘symbiotic
furthering growth by opening training centres focused on
clusters’ of AI and robotics innovations. The same could
equipping young individuals with high-end skills in the
hold true for groups of technology start-ups sharing
field of analytics and ML, which, in turn, could be tied in
infrastructure and technology resources.
with inviting data-driven global enterprises to set up their
centres of excellence in India. This could be an extension In conclusion, progress in AI, ML and robotics should
of the Digital India and National Skill Development follow the needs of businesses and individuals rather than
initiatives to meet the growing demand of analytical and the other way round. In order to ensure that innovation
AI competency. The outcome from such partnerships is directed towards effective pursuits and does not clash
could be beneficial to the firms in question as well as the with human interests (for example, by introducing biases
country’s human capital. in outcomes), collaborative efforts and ongoing dialogue
between the three pillars of AI-based research—academia,
the public sector and private sector—should be encouraged.

72 Government of Andhra Pradesh. (2016). ITE&C DEPT - IT Promotion – Andhra Pradesh Internet of Things (IoT) Policy 2016-2020 - Orders -
Issued. Retrieved from http://www.aponline.gov.in/apportal/Downloads/2016ITC_MS3.pdf (last accessed on 10 April 2018)

36 PwC
7. Bibliography

1. ANI. (26 February 2018). AI to the rescue: 6 startups that are redefining healthcare market in India. Business Standard.
Retrieved from http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/ai-to-the-rescue-6-startups-that-are-redefining-
healthcare-market-in-india-118022500706_1.html
2. CB Insights (2018). Artificial intelligence trends to watch in 2018. Retrieved from https://www.cbinsights.com/
research/report/artificial-intelligence-trends-2018/
3. Gupta, B. (19 June 2017). Analytics and Data Science India Jobs Study 2017 – by Edvancer & AIM. Analytics India
Magazine. Retrieved from https://analyticsindiamag.com/analytics-and-data-science-india-jobs-study-2017-by-
edvancer-aim/
4. NASSCOM Knowledge Center. (n.d.). AI, beyond the myth & the hype. Retrieved from http://www.nasscom.in/
knowledge-center/publications/ai-beyond-myth-hype
5. NDTV Profit Team. (9 July 2017). Demand for analytics professionals surges, 2 lakh shortage likely in US. NDTV.
Retrieved from https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/demand-for-analytics-professionals-rises-2-lakh-shortage-likely-in-
us-1721815
6. Saha, T. (6 June 2017). 12 artificial intelligence based healthcare startups in India. Medgenera. Retrieved from https://
news.medgenera.com/12-artificial-intelligence-healthcare-startups-india-ai/
7. Thomas, A. (1 February 2018). Budget 2018: Niti Aayog to establish National Programme on Artificial Intelligence.
Retrieved from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/budget-2018-niti-aayog-to-
establish-national-programme-on-artificial-intelligence/articleshow/62738713.cms

Advance artificial intelligence for growth 37

About ASSOCHAM

The knowledge architect of corporate India

Evolution of value creator Currently, ASSOCHAM has more than 100 National
ASSOCHAM initiated its endeavour of value creation for Councils covering the entire gamut of economic activities in
Indian industry in 1920. Having in its fold more than 400 India. It has been especially acknowledged as a significant
Chambers and Trade Associations, and serving more than voice of Indian industry in the field of Corporate Social
4,50,000 members from all over India. It has witnessed Responsibility, Environment & Safety, HR & Labour
upswings as well as upheavals of Indian Economy, and Affairs, Corporate Governance, Information Technology,
contributed significantly by playing a catalytic role Biotechnology, Telecom, Banking & Finance, Company
in shaping up the Trade, Commerce and Industrial Law, Corporate Finance, Economic and International
environment of the country. Affairs, Mergers & Acquisitions, Tourism, Civil Aviation,
Infrastructure, Energy & Power, Education, Legal Reforms,
Today, ASSOCHAM has emerged as the fountainhead of
Real Estate and Rural Development, Competency Building
Knowledge for Indian industry, which is all set to redefine
& Skill Development to mention a few.
the dynamics of growth and development in the technology
driven cyber age of ‘Knowledge Based Economy’. Insight into ‘new business models’
ASSOCHAM has been a significant contributory factor in
ASSOCHAM is seen as a forceful, proactive, forward looking
the emergence of new-age Indian Corporates, characterized
institution equipping itself to meet the aspirations of
by a new mind-set and global ambition for dominating
corporate India in the new world of business. ASSOCHAM
the international business. The Chamber has addressed
is working towards creating a conducive environment of
itself to the key areas like India as Investment Destination,
India business to compete globally.
Achieving International Competitiveness, Promoting
ASSOCHAM derives its strength from its Promoter International Trade, Corporate Strategies for Enhancing
Chambers and other Industry/Regional Chambers/ Stakeholders Value, Government Policies in sustaining
Associations spread all over the country. India’s Development, Infrastructure Development
for enhancing India’s Competitiveness, Building
Vision
Indian MNCs, Role of Financial Sector the Catalyst for
Empower Indian enterprise by inculcating knowledge
India’s Transformation.
that will be the catalyst of growth in the barrier-less
technology driven global market and help them upscale, ASSOCHAM derives its strengths from the following
align and emerge as formidable player in respective Promoter Chambers: Bombay Chamber of Commerce
business segments. & Industry, Mumbai; Cochin Chambers of Commerce &
Industry, Cochin: Indian Merchant’s Chamber, Mumbai;
Mission
The Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chennai;
As a representative organ of Corporate India, ASSOCHAM
PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, New Delhi and
articulates the genuine, legitimate needs and interests of its
has over 4 Lakh Direct/Indirect members.
members. Its mission is to impact the policy and legislative
environment so as to foster balanced economic, industrial Together, we can make a significant difference to the
and social development. We believe education, IT, BT, burden that our nation carries and bring in a bright, new
Health, Corporate Social responsibility and environment to tomorrow for our nation.
be the critical success factors.
D. S. Rawat
Members – our strength Secretary General
ASSOCHAM represents the interests of more than 4,50,000 [email protected]
direct and indirect members across the country. Through
The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of
its heterogeneous membership, ASSOCHAM combines the
India (ASSOCHAM)
entrepreneurial spirit and business acumen of owners with
management skills and expertise of professionals to set Corporate Office:
itself apart as a Chamber with a difference. 5, Sardar Patel Marg, Chanakyapuri
New Delhi - 110 021
Tel: 011-46550555 (Hunting Line)
Fax: 011-23017008, 23017009
Website: www.assocham.org

38 PwC
About PwC
At PwC, our purpose is to build trust in society and solve important problems. We’re a network of firms in 158 countries with
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independent and distinct legal entity. Please see www.pwc.com/structure for further details.
© 2018 PwC. All rights reserved

About the authors

This knowledge paper has been co-authored by Prasun Nandy, Indranil Mitra, Udayan Bhattacharya, Shruti Kakar, Deboprio
Dutta and Neelam Patodia. Prasun Nandy and Indranil Mitra are Directors in PwC’s Data and Analytics practice and focus on
AI. Udayan Bhattacharya is an Associate Director and works on AI, ML and cognitive automation along with Shruti Kakar,
Deboprio Dutta and Neelam Patodia.

Contacts
Arnab Basu Sudipta Ghosh
Partner and Leader Partner and Leader
Technology Consulting, PwC India Data and Analytics, PwC India
[email protected] [email protected]

Prasun Nandy Indranil Mitra, PhD Udayan Bhattacharya

Director Director Associate Director
Data and Analytics, PwC India Data and Analytics, PwC India Data and Analytics, PwC India
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Shruti Kakar Deboprio Dutta Neelam Patodia

Senior Consultant Senior Consultant Consultant
Data and Analytics, PwC India Data and Analytics, PwC India Data and Analytics, PwC India
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Advance artificial intelligence for growth 39

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