Digitization offers a potential US$ 39 billion of export opportunity for Indian businesses by 2022

Highlighting the growth opportunity for Indian businesses in international markets, Google India and KPMG, today released a report titled, ‘Indian Brands Going Global: A $39 billion opportunity’. The report, which gives a comprehensive overview of the current trends and opportunities in the digital export industry, projects that by 2022 digitization will unlock a potential $39 billion worth of export opportunities for Indian businesses in select verticals; up from $16 billion in 2017. The report outlines that travel, media and entertainment, SaaS, Consumer brands and real estate are the key verticals with high potential international opportunities.

The report suggests that with the rising digital influence on consumers globally, and growing cross border eCommerce – digital is fast becoming the preferred channel to reach global audience. The report outlines that Asia-Pacific is one of the most attractive region for expansion by Indian players – with China, Malaysia and Indonesia as key target countries. Digitally mature geographies such as the US and UK are other lucrative geographies which can be tapped through digital channels.

Speaking about the export opportunities for businesses in India, Shalini Girish, Director – Marketing Solutions, Google India said, “Rising global connectivity is opening up new opportunities for businesses to expand internationally. This growth is led by emerging economies, driven by adoption of mobile phones; this combination is driving a very rapidly growing cross border mobile eCommerce. There is a huge International growth opportunity for select verticals and we wanted to capture that through this report. We have also introduced a revamped Google Market Finder tool, that can help businesses overcome the barriers when they want to expand internationally.”

“Offered as a free tool, it helps businesses identify and evaluate new markets by using Google search trends data by capturing the volume, and also indicates the level of competitive activity in the region. With this tool, businesses can get access to all the resources they need to find the right market for their products and services, translate their websites and ad text, find new customers with relevant online ads”, she added.

Sharing insights on how Indian businesses can tap onto different geographies for international expansion, Sreedhar Prasad, Partner and Head, Consumer Markets & Internet Business Advisory, KPMG India said, “Geographically, share of developing economies in global trade is on the rise. As per the report, developing economies now account for ‾41% of global merchandise trade and ‾36% of global trade of commercial services. This presents a compelling case for Indian Businesses to ‘Look East’ for growth. Regions within APAC like China, Malaysia and Indonesia constitute attractive markets for expansion and with digitisation, Indian companies can look to make significant headway in key sectors.”

The report provides a comprehensive overview of key verticals that can immediately gain from the changing global digital landscape.

● Travel – The report predicts that Asia-Pacific and Middle East are the broad focus markets with UAE, Indonesia as very high potential markets for Indian online travel agency. The industry is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 18% to $3.1 bn by 2022 from $1.37 bn in 2017, driven by online sales opportunity for Indian travel service providers to international travelers traveling into India. International traveler inflow into India to grow to 12.8 million by 2022 and accommodation spends by international tourists in India is expected to grow at approximately 14 percent.

● Media and entertainment – NRI markets like the US, UK, UAE and mobile firsts markets like Brazil are extremely lucrative for video consumption. In music growing markets like South East Asia, Malaysia and Philippines offer new opportunities for the players. The industry is set to grow at a CAGR of 37% to $3.46 billion by 2022 from a $0.71 bn in 2017.

● SaaS: Growing SaaS adoption by SMB customers in emerging markets offers new opportunities for Indian Saas players. Global SMB Saas segment is expected to grow at CAGR of 36 per cent over 2017-2022. And untapped market opportunity exists in vertical focussed SaaS as well as Hybrid SaaS solutions and cloud first digital transformation are gaining prominence globally offering a robust business opportunity to Indian players offering SaaS solutions. Indian SaaS players’ revenue is expected to grow from $1.1 bn in 2017 to $4.4 bn by 2022 at a CAGR of 32%.

● Real Estate – The India real estate market offers superior long-term returns, the opportunity for realtors from the NRI customers is expected to grow from $11.5 in 2017 to $25.7 bn in 2022, growing at a CAGR of 17%. Indian real estate developers could tap into the NRI and HNI customer base by leveraging technology and digital platforms.

● Consumer Brands – Asia-Pacific is the focus region for consumer brands, it is the fastest growing region in apparel and consumer durables. China, Vietnam and Indonesia are rapidly growing jewelry markets. Consumer brand market in select retail verticals is expected to grow from $1.5 bn to $2.64 billion by 2022 at CAGR of 12%.