Reality check
Immersive technologies offer limitless opportunities, but they need a safe and conducive ecosystem to achieve their full potential.
For XR to flourish responsibly in India, policymakers, entrepreneurs and behavioral experts, among others, must form ecosystems that provide a secure infrastructure and strong incentives to encourage innovation and wider adoption.
Globally, XR is poised to be a US$160 billion industry by 2023. In India, the XR spending will exceed US$6.5 billion by 2022 from under US$2 billion in 2020 due to growing smartphone penetration—a key driving factor—which is expected to double during the same timeframe (Figure 1).
While this growth is fueled by burgeoning demand, the supply side factors are keeping pace. Currently, there are more than 170 AR and VR startups in India, with some 60 percent springing up in the past couple of years alone.4 Not surprisingly, most of the startups are based in metros and serve large corporations across industries. (Figure 2)
XR Market Size 4,000 (in US$ million)
CAGR
(85.2%)
Figure 1: XR takes off in India
Explore how Indian companies are putting AR/VR to use
Figure 2: Indian companies putting AR/VR to use
Allows Access to Sensitive Data
Facilitates Fake Experiences
Heightens Vulnerability to Cyberattacks
Exacerbates Cyberbullying
While the risks posed by extensive use of XR will manifest themselves as we go further along, companies and policymakers need to address those risks as timely and optimally as they possibly can. Responsibility and ethics must be baked into the way XR solutions are built and designed, and not after they are deployed. Here are three ways in which businesses and policymakers can manage those risks: