Market Trends of India Location-based Services Industry
The Increasing Adoption of Smartphones and Other Mobile Devices
- India has seen a massive rise in smartphone penetration over the last few years. The availability of smartphones at an affordable rate, coupled with various affordable data plans, has made smartphones more accessible to a more extensive population base within the country. Hence, as more people in India own smartphones, the user base for location-based services expands, boosting the market's growth exponentially.
- These smartphones generally deliver constant internet connectivity, enabling users to access location-based services. Also, the expansion of mobile internet infrastructure, including the overall deployment of 4G networks and the ongoing 5G rollout, has improved internet accessibility drastically across a broad spectrum of regions in India. This vast connectivity ensures that users can access location-based services anywhere, anytime, contributing significantly to the market's growth.
- The Indian Government has also introduced various digital initiatives and mobile apps to offer citizens access to government services. These apps usually incorporate location-based features to facilitate a wide variety of digital services, utilizing location-based services. Hence, this rise in the adoption of smartphones enables more people to access these essential digital services, further driving the growth of location-based services in the country.
- Moreover, the high social media penetration and the adoption of location-based apps are increasing the total use cases for LBS within the country. The overall penetration rate of social media in India is growing significantly. According to StatCounter, Facebook had the highest traffic at about 58 percent among all other social media platforms throughout India as of July 2022. Instagram and YouTube followed far behind, with traffic shares of around 26.44 percent and 9.86 percent, respectively, during the same time.
- According to Bharat FIH, the overall penetration rate of mobile phones in India was about 76.6 percent in the financial year 2022. This was anticipated to rise significantly to more than 86 percent in the financial year 2026 within the country, creating immense opportunities for the market to grow.
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IT and Telecom Sector Expected to Witness Significant Growth
- India has seen a significant expansion of mobile network coverage in recent years. All the critical telecommunication companies have been investing a hefty sum of money in expanding their overall infrastructure to reach remote and rural areas. This expansion has thus provided a solid foundation for location-based services to function effectively and efficiently throughout the country.
- According to TRAI, as of March 2023, wireless telecom connections dominated India's market, accounting for almost 98% of all connections. This marked a slight decline in overall telephone connections from the previous year.
- Moreover, the strong policy support from the Government has been an extremely significant step in the sector's overall development. The telecom sector's overall Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) cap has recently increased significantly. The total FDI inflow within the telecom sector stood at around USD 39.02 billion between April 2000-September 2022.
- Also, the telecom sector has been significantly influential in terms of enhancing GPS technology in India. GPS-enabled smartphone has become highly affordable, and the overall coverage and accuracy of GPS signals have improved considerably. This has made it much easier for location-based services, especially to determine the precise locations, thereby providing accurate information to the users.
- Overall, the IT and Telecom sector in India has played a vital role in enhancing location-based service by improving the overall network coverage, encouraging government initiatives, augmenting mobile app development, improving GPS technology, assisting e-commerce as well as hyperlocal services, and enabling the growth of IoT as well as various smart city solutions. These advancements have made LBS a fundamental part of daily life within the country.
