Speaking at the inaugural session at Bengaluru Tech Sumit 2022 – Martin Schroeter, CEO, Kyndryl reiterated the importance of India for the company.
“It is a privilege to be speaking here along with the Honorable Prime Minister, Sri Narendra Modi; the Honorable Chief Minister, Sri Basavaraj Bommai; the Honorable IT BT Minister, Dr. Ashwath Narayanan; and all the senior leaders, government officials, and dignitaries. I am so pleased to have the opportunity to speak today alongside so many distinguished global and Indian leaders, and to such an esteemed audience.
I always enjoy coming back to this city: a storied place with a history that dates back more than a thousand years. Today, it is the modern and vibrant epicenter of tech innovation in India. This is a place that represents the important nexus of creativity and ambition for the world’s fastest growing major economy.
Indeed, the pace and scale of progress in Bengaluru — and across India — is remarkable. Today, this nation is recognized globally for its economic prowess. India is the world’s fifth largest economy, and this is going to be India’s decade — the “Techade,” as Prime Minister Modi so aptly puts it. So it is no surprise that he has made it his mission to realize the next several years as India’s Amrit Kaal — a golden period,” he explained.
He also mentioned that India has built one of the most sophisticated and enviable information technology hubs anywhere. “This is a nation of more than 61,000 startups, making it the third-largest startup ecosystem on the planet with Bengaluru being a leader here. By embracing the power of cutting-edge technology, the government has put India on a path to achieve a $5 trillion economy by 2025.
Take as an example the recent addition to Bengaluru International Airport, and the exciting inauguration of the new Terminal 2 just last week. Kyndryl is a close and proud partner in that project so we are deeply familiar with the technology that makes it so special. The new terminal will help welcome millions more to visit this impressive region through India’s third-busiest airport,” he added.
“In my role running Kyndryl, one of the biggest privileges I have is proximity to our customers and their mission-critical operations. We build, operate, and manage the technology infrastructure that businesses and governments around the world depend on every single day.
Here in India, we’re proud to be a trusted partner to the people, and to the enterprises, that are working to build and extend next-generation digital infrastructure across the country. Our work in India touches the lives of more than a billion people through our local customers, and we employ tens of thousands of skilled professionals here — each of them supporting customers locally and worldwide.
Every day we show up for our banking, telecommunications, and supply chain partners — making sure the digital infrastructure for these critical sectors operates smoothly and securely. So when someone talks about the health of the global economy and how it actually works, we see the inner workings of how commerce moves. We are deeply involved in that conversation with our customers and partners every day,” he explained.
he went on to mention that in India, rewiring for the better goes hand-in-hand with existing national imperatives. “Prime Minister Modi has talked about his vision for leveraging digital transformation to promote the public good, and how it is crucial to extend economic access to all 1.4 billion of India’s citizens. That includes connecting and protecting merchants, farmers, and entrepreneurs of all sizes who wish to plug their businesses into the wider digital economy.
A great success story in this area is the Unified Payments Interface (or UPI) — an Indian-led innovation with global ramifications. Today, UPI is the benchmark for how to enable real transformation through micro-transactions and mobile payments, and it underpins widespread financial inclusion and digital commerce growth in India. In just six years, this system became the most popular way Indians make digital transactions. Its use has grown by an impressive 427% since March 2020 — turbocharging India’s digital ambitions. Micro-finance organizations in India are powering financial inclusion, as well as the advent of the digital rupee and 5G in India. These will usher in an era where digital innovation and trade reach every corner of India’s population. At Kyndryl, we aspire to be at the heart of that story — and through policies such as “Digital India,” we can achieve that vision together and rewire for a more inclusive economy.
Kyndryl is here in India to build alongside our customers and partners. What we are building is not only for the short term, but also the long term, something for future generations. That includes thinking about how to rewire for a more sustainable world. I understand this is a priority here in India, too,” he explained.
