Usage of the Internet and other digital facilities has grown immensely in the past few years in India, and so has its economy. However, amid the US-China Trade War, Brexit uncertainty, and more, the global economy sputtered this year. Many experts have predicted substantial effects of the slowdown on the Indian economy, whereas some claim otherwise. Whatever anyone’s viewpoints maybe, some impact of the potential recession has begun to make itself observed — even on the Internet economy.
Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio entered the industry in around 2015, and almost instantaneously, led to a legendary boost in India’s digital economy. It rapidly established an irreplaceable status, giving rise to a system of incredibly cheap data rates. TRAI recorded a 56-fold increment in data usage between 2014 and 2018. Moreover, the wireless data subscriber base has soared to a whopping 578 million in 2019, over double the numbers in 2014.
Several international investors saw an exceptional opportunity in the growth for capital investments, so much so that last year’s official estimation of just the Internet economy valued over $1 trillion. Lamentably, newer reports suggest the prognosticated numbers could be harder to attain than then thought.
The gigantic fund flow, that Indian brands and startups were receiving until some time ago, seems to register a significant drop. Take Alibaba for instance, an important investor in many digital brands of India (like Paytm & Zomato.) The Chinese giant has decided to pause any new funding into Indian companies. Online transaction is now growing at a lot lower level than 2015, as per the Reserve Bank of India. These transactions are what primarily aggregate the Internet economy and are hence extremely valuable. Their decline is troubling for the overall digital market.’
