Digitalisation Offers $39-Billion Export Opportunity For Indian Businesses By 2022

Rising digital influence on consumers and growing cross-border e-commerce are expected to unlock $39 billion worth of export opportunities for Indian businesses by 2022 across various verticals, a report by Google-KPMG today said.

The report outlined that travel, media and entertainment, software as a service, consumer brands and real estate are the key verticals with high potential international opportunities as digital is fast becoming the preferred channel to reach a global audience.

It pointed out Asia-Pacific is one of the most attractive regions for expansion by Indian players — with China, Malaysia and Indonesia as the key target countries.

Digitally mature geographies such as the U.S. and U.K. are other lucrative geographies which can be tapped through digital channels, it added.

"This growth is led by emerging economies, driven by adoption of mobile phones; this combination is driving a very rapidly growing cross-border mobile e-commerce," Google India Director of Marketing Solutions Shalini Girish said.

Sreedhar Prasad, partner and head of consumer markets and internet business advisory at KPMG India, said geographically, the share of developing economies in global trade is on the rise. “As per the report, developing economies now account for about 41 percent of global merchandise trade and about 36 percent of global trade of commercial services. This presents a compelling case for Indian Businesses to 'Look East' for growth."

Prasad said regions within Asia Pacific like China, Malaysia and Indonesia constitute attractive markets for expansion and with digitalisation, Indian companies can look to make significant headway in key sectors.

According to the report, the travel vertical is predicted to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 18 percent to $3.1 billion by 2022 from $1.37 billion in 2017, driven by online sales opportunity for Indian travel service providers to international travellers to India.

International traveller inflow to India is expected to grow to 12.8 million by 2022 and accommodation spends by international tourists in the country are expected to grow at approximately 14 percent, it added.

The media and entertainment industry, on the other hand, is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 37 percent to $3.46 billion by 2022 from $0.71 billion in 2017.

Similarly, the real estate vertical is expected to grow from $11.5 billion in 2017 to $25.7 billion in 2022, at a CAGR of 17 percent.

Indian real estate developers could tap into the non-resident Indian and high net-worth individual customer base by leveraging technology and digital platforms, the report said.