Metaverse a new opportunity for Indian IT

Metaverse is real. So are the opportunities arising from metaverse. Indian IT services companies, therefore, are coming up with service offerings in metaverse space that can cater to various sectors. This week alone, two major IT firms- Infosys and Tech Mahindra, have announced the launch of their metaverse offerings. Terming it as 'Metaverse Foundry', the new business division at the company has the objective of easing and fast-tracking an enterprise's ability to use emerging technologies and offer metaverse products and services.

Similarly, Tech Mahindra announced the launch of 'TechMVerse', a metaverse-related business to offer customers immersive experiences. The company wants to use its own AI, blockchain, AR/VR capabilities to build B2B use cases across segments. According to the company, TechMVerse will begin with four main centres in Dallas, London, Pune and Hyderabad. It plans to use business opportunities offered by the metaverse such as the DealerVerse – the virtual car dealership, Meta Bank – the virtual bank, Middlemist – an NFT marketplace and a virtual gaming centre. Such moves reflect the growth opportunities in metaverse space in coming years.

Immersive technology leveraging augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) already has many use cases across the world. Gaming industry is the biggest user base of metaverse as of now. However, metaverse technology takes the virtual reality into the next level because it converges many technological applications under one umbrella. Artificial intelligence (AI), AR, VR, and blockchain have their role in development of metaverse technology.

India has already been witnessing rising use cases of metaverse technology. A couple from Tamil Nadu recently held their wedding reception in Metaverse. Apart from investors' interest in crypto currencies, NFTs are also getting much attention with many celebrities joining this digital space. India is also home to a large user base of video games, social media networks, e-commerce apart from its engineering prowess. With 440 million gamers or 16 per cent of the worldwide gamers base of 2.7 billion, the country is among the top five global markets in the world. Currently, mobile gaming dominates the Indian gaming sector, contributing more than 90 per cent to the $1.6 billion gaming market. This is expected to further grow to generate $3.9 billion value by 2025, as per a report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

With time, the applications of metaverse technology are going to increase. Experts feel that metaverse can be used in solving many critical problems. For instance, telehealth and tele-education can be more immersive with the help of metaverse. When that happens, India will be in a better position to deliver basic amenities like health and education to millions of people in the hinterland of the country. Moreover, metaverse is that emerging technology in which the country can take the leadership role through its engineering prowess. Most of the design and development can be driven out of India. In this perspective, Indian IT firms can cash in the emerging opportunities in the metaverse space, provided they build up a skilled workforce and launch relevant service offerings well in advance than global competitors.