India’s tech trends of 2015

As the time to say good bye to the year 2015 nears, wonder what were the trends that ruled the technology landscape in India? Technology trends that impacted our lives most during the year and the ones that laid the foundation for the technology of tomorrow.

So, here’s over to the 6 trends that shaped the tech space in India in the year 2015 and will have impact on 2016 and beyond ….

Rise of online grocery & food delivery
Time is short and roads take up too much of it. So we saw a lot of new players in the online grocery business.
Apart from Bigbasket & LocalBanya ­ which have been around for some time ­ new players like Grofers and Peppertap further drove growth.
This trend is expected to continue next year as many will receive funding.

Sub-Rs 10k smartphones become smarter
All phone brands understand that India has budget conscious buyers and there’s a lot of traction in the sub-Rs 10,000 price range.
Features usually found in premium smartphones (a full HD display, laser autofocus, 3GB RAM, fingerprint scanners) were made available in budget phones.
This lead to exponential growth and the trend is expected to continue in 2016.

Uber, Ola, Taxi for Sure become household names
One of the highest adopted services in 2015 were Taxi aggregators. Uber, Ola, Taxi for Sure, Meru became a household names.
Aggressive fares, easier booking, loads of promotions and immediate availability lead to massive growth for taxi aggregators.
This is despite the security lapse that lead to the services being banned for some time.

Indians embrace fitness devices
Fitness wearables are not new, but it was in 2015 that we saw India take to them seriously.
Thanks to the budget Mi Band from Xiaomi and innovative coach services from Goqii, more and more people opted for fitness bands.
We also saw international brands like Fitbit and Jawbone officially arrive in India.

Drones became cheaper, more ubiquitous
Drones were in the news for a lot of reasons this year. From a drone dropping in at the white house to Amazon using them for delivery and even for relief work in hard to reach areas.
There’s an increase in availability despite the uncertainty of a ban. Plus, you’ll see basic ‘toy’ drones for as less as Rs 4,000 onwards ­ interest is unlikely to fade soon.

Digital wallets became more common
Digital wallets like Paytm, Mobikwik, PayU & Citrus witnessed growth thanks to integration with multiple service providers.
There are minimal complications and you even get discounts cashback if you use a wallet as compared to a debit/credit card.
This made them more attractive to online shoppers. With more services now accepting payments via digital wallet and NFC payments at merchants expected to launch soon, this segment will see massive growth next year.