Harnessing power of technology crucial to driving inclusive growth in India: Jeet Adani

Mumbai (The Uttam Hindu): For a developing nation like India, harnessing the power of technology is crucial to driving inclusive growth, improving governance and tackling the long-standing challenges in areas like education, healthcare and financial inclusion, ensuring that technology benefits all segments of society, Jeet Adani, Director of Adani Airport Holdings Ltd (AAHL), said on Tuesday.

Delivering the keynote address at IIT Bombay’s ‘Techfest’ event, Jeet Adani said that India has already made significant strides in digital services with initiatives like Digital India, which promotes internet connectivity, online services and digital literacy across the country – and these achievements are all rooted in the beneficial use of technology. "India is in overdrive in many sectors. UPI, which we are all familiar with, is such a hit that other nations are coming to us asking for our advice. India does about 180 billion cashless transactions a year – and this is a far bigger number than every advanced economy out there, whether it is the US or the UK or Singapore or any of the developed countries in Europe," he emphasised. In 2014, India’s GDP was $1.85 trillion - and it had been built up over 66 years of independence. "In the past decade, that number has more than doubled. While this growth is great news and we are also building the basic infrastructure India needs, the power-up our nation desperately needs to catch up with the developed world is high-end technology," he noted. According to Jeet Adani, the Adani Group has also adopted a ‘digital first’ approach across its companies. "In the ports and logistics sector, where we are one of the world’s largest players, we use simulation-based training for complex roles – like crane operators and wharf checkers – to exponentially enhance workplace safety and operational efficiency," he informed. In the airports sector, where the company manages seven international airports and is building a new international airport in Navi Mumbai, "we have placed our bets on technology to help us plan better and also improve operational efficiency all around". In 2016, the company completed the 648 MW Kamuthi solar plant in Tamil Nadu and it was then the world’s largest single-site solar power project. "Today, we are building another renewable energy plant – in Khavda, in western Gujarat. If you thought Kamuthi was big, this is super-massive, to say the least! It is more than 5 times the size of Paris – and when completed, it will generate 30 GW of clean energy, making it the world’s largest man-made source of power – bigger than thermal, bigger than nuclear, bigger than even hydropower," said Jeet Adani. "In Khavda, the beneficial use of technology is letting us add around 25 MW every single day – that is almost 10 times what we were adding every day in Kamuthi - that is like building a Kamuthi every month!", he told the gathering.

The Adani Skill Development Centre runs Saksham, a great example of leveraging technology for social good. Using advanced training methods by integrating AI, Virtual Reality and simulation-based learning, Saksham provides access to high-quality skill development, allowing thousands of Indians from very diverse socio-economic backgrounds to achieve their aspirations. "In another project called SuPoshan, a mobile-based application is used to input screening data of children, adolescents and women. The app helps the village-level health volunteers to identify the status of undernutrition among the targeted beneficiaries and supports us in planning the course of action, helping track data in real time, remotely," said Jeet Adani. All these instances show that the beneficial use of technology can truly be a powerful force for societal upliftment and economic growth, he said, stressing that as the scope and power of technology grows, "we must be careful not to let the harmful use of technology overshadow the beneficial use of technology".