99% Of Indian B2B SaaS Companies Have Adopted DeepTech Innovations: EY-Nasscom Report

Around 99% of Indian business-to-business software-as-a-service companies have embraced DeepTech innovations, with 25% focusing on inventive DeepTech, according to a report by EY India in collaboration with Nasscom.

Artificial intelligence/machine learning is the most leveraged DeepTech, followed by big data/descriptive analytics and intelligent automation.

The report examines the contribution of DeepTech in the rise of Indian B2B SaaS and explains the dynamics of DeepTech adoption by B2B SaaS enterprises in India. It also underlines the role of DeepTech in potentially driving breakthrough growth for inventive B2B SaaS companies, i.e., businesses focused on developing intellectual property. The report is based on an analysis of 201 leading Indian B2B SaaS companies.

DeepTech Integration And AI-Centricity In Indian B2B SaaS

The integration of DeepTech solutions, which are carefully adapted to fit changing customer use cases, is a noticeable trend in the Indian B2B SaaS market. According to the report, 99% of Indian B2B SaaS companies surveyed have adopted DeepTech innovations as a strategic way to address customers’ needs and challenges. The most widely adopted of these technologies is AI/ML (54% of use cases), followed by big data/descriptive analytics (39%) and intelligent automation (7%).

Due to a growing push towards AI-led digital transformation, specific areas such as predictive analysis (particularly in non-real-time scenarios), conversational AI, computer vision and generative AI have attracted increased interest among Indian B2B SaaS companies, the report shows. Additionally, a large percentage of Indian B2B SaaS businesses are concentrated on leveraging DeepTech to serve horizontal application areas with high functional coverage across sales and marketing, human resources, and operations and supply chain.

DeepTech Can Unlock Future Growth

According to the report, breakthrough Indian B2B SaaS companies, which are focused on inventive DeepTech, can potentially unlock annual recurring revenue at a compounded annual growth rate of 30–50% on a sustained basis. The report also found that one out of four Indian B2B SaaS companies studied, were focused on inventive DeepTech. Over 1,400 patents were filed between them over the past half-decade, compared to 574 patent filings over the preceding decade.

“As Indian companies transform to challenge global SaaS leaders and gain market share, inventive DeepTech and intellectual property advantages can enable premium positioning and competitive advantage," said Nitin Bhatt, technology sector leader at EY India.

With a supportive ecosystem, the scale of inventive DeepTech in Indian B2B SaaS can be advanced even more. The top three challenges highlighted by B2B SaaS companies are availability of DeepTech talent (80%), patient capital (40%) and DeepTech infrastructure (27%).

Future Directions

A supportive environment for DeepTech advancements in the nation can be made possible by strategic partnerships with the government and academia, mass development of inventive DeepTech talent, democratisation of AI/ML research, design and training modules, patient seed capital, and improved infrastructure that fosters easy exchange of ideas, knowledge, and resources.

“As we move ahead, prioritising innovative and inventive DeepTech, and at the same time addressing the growth impediments, will be fundamental in building a globally competitive and the most attractive DeepTech-led B2B SaaS destination in the world,” said Sangeeta Gupta, senior vice president and chief strategy officer at Nasscom.