Through the looking glass: technology in a post COVID-19 world
By Chaitanya Gogineni, Partner, Management Consulting—Technology, Media and Telecom, KPMG in India
(4 minutes read)
Technology is playing a vital role in reshaping consumer, business and even government behaviour, yielding new business models designed for an increasingly ‘contact-less’ society in a post-COVID world. This profound shift is set to be extremely challenging, especially as it is at odds with centuries of human evolution into a globally connected collective. Technological innovations can be distilled into three key themes to help identify future opportunities: 1) Consumerism - The future of customer engagement 2) Industrialisation – The future of work; and 3) Governance – The future of welfare.
Reviving the Indian economy: does infrastructure hold the key?
By Puneet Narang, Partner, Major Projects Advisory—Infrastructure, Government and Healthcare, KPMG in India
(5 minutes read)
The Indian economy was facing headwinds much before COVID-19 and is currently looking at its fourth recession since independence. The tough question our policy makers and industry leaders face is: how do we get back on the recovery path? There are a few green shoots like power demand and manufacturing activity picking up. With private investment, consumption-led demand and exports all looking weak, the thrust to revive growth would have to come from government-driven expenditure. Building future-ready, intelligent, resilient and sustainable infrastructure could help restart capital goods production, provide employment and revive private sector confidence.
The education sector in India: dawn of a digital era
By Narayanan Ramaswamy, Partner and Sector Head, Education and Skill Development, KPMG in India
(3 minutes read)
The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted the education sector, accelerating the shift to digital learning models as educational institutes remain closed in the wake of the virus outbreak. The popularity of tech-enabled learning solutions is only going to gain further traction as educational institutions, teachers, parents and governments become increasingly willing to adopt technology.
Protecting our sanitation workers: the frontline ‘Swachhata’ soldiers in times of COVID-19
By Nilachal Mishra, Partner & Head–Government Advisory, Infrastructure, Government & Healthcare (IGH), KPMG in India
(4 minutes read)
The issue of urban sanitation in India has been brought to the forefront of public discourse over the last five years. This may be largely attributed to the launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) in October 2014. There are over five million sanitation workers in India collecting waste from our households, cleaning our streets and public toilets, sewer lines and septic tanks. Unfortunately, these sanitation workers or ‘safai karmacharis’ are at the bottom of the social and economic ladder, and there is plenty of work to be done to improve their situation.
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) agenda is key to a sustainable recovery in the post-COVID world
By Santhosh Jayaram, Partner and Head, Sustainability and CSR advisory, KPMG in India
(3 minutes read)
The silver lining of the COVID-19 lockdowns, albeit a slender one, is that the reduced human activity has meant cleaner air and water. This situation presents the world a unique opportunity to carefully plan its recovery and gives further impetus to the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) agenda which had already been gaining momentum.