Metaverse is entering the mainstream after a long stint of being a niche area of interest for some tech enthusiasts. With its expansion, the question pops up on the sustainability of metaverse as a new technology wave in coming years – whether it is a trend or just a fad. Metaverse is witnessing a huge application in several mainstream industries and the use cases are growing. Since India is home to a large user base of video games, social media networks, and e-commerce apart from its engineering prowess, it has created a warm environment for Metaverse to flourish.
Foundation of Metaverse
The metaverse is an envisioned 3D world fueled in large part by artificial intelligence and immersive graphics that will be a place where consumers can interact with others and companies can do business in ways that cannot be done today.
The foundation of Metaverse is to create Decentralisation by giving its users full control and autonomy. The space a user buys or inhabits in this virtual world is truly theirs and can be used for various purposes. Metaverse offers flexibility over closed platforms and is bound to grow as time goes on.
A Rendezvous with Metaverse
Metaverse is an $8 trillion market as per the reports. The boom took place as it opened up many opportunities for developers, creators economy, service providers, platform enablers etc. Metaverse has managed to connect the physical world with the virtual one seamlessly. The pandemic has highlighted the need for the Metaverse, potentially accelerating the tech adoption in the marketspace. For the IT companies, it presents ample opportunities to work upon and also support never before seen innovations. From virtual graduations to shopping malls being created in the Metaverse, it has brought in a plethora of opportunities for the developers to work upon.
The Retail leaders are nowhere behind in this race. Retail giants, like Walmart and Nike, are preparing to create NFTs and cryptocurrencies in order to explore the Metaverse. Gen Z is very familiar with the virtual experience, making the metaverse a good fit for young consumers. The survey found that 40 per cent of Gen-Z and 40 per cent of millennials, who made up one-third of the total respondents, want to buy virtual products. Retailers now understand that going where consumers are is a better option than trying to bring in customers to physical stores.
The music industry is already opening up to the idea of virtual concerts in the Metaverse.
The BIG Indian bet on Metaverse
With the pace of Metaverse skyrocketing worldwide, Indian companies are becoming a major part of this ever-growing industry as many new-age startups are bringing in revolutions in the virtual world and generating passive income from it. India is playing a key role in the evolution and growth of metaverse technology as it has a large user base of video games, social media networks, and e-commerce. The country’s top IT major, Tata Consultancy Services, is already taking steps towards making dominance in the Metaverse through significant investments. Not only this but the Metaverse also made $8 trillion giant, Accenture, show considerable interest in it. According to the company, it is working towards unleashing Metaverse’s potential in the Banking space.
These developments in the country have been undertaken in a bid to drive the digital economy up to $1 trillion. Consider the example of the engineering sector in India- according to a 2020 report by Scaler, only 3 per cent of engineering graduates in India get high-paying tech jobs. With Metaverse coming in more strongly, it brings in a new avenue for innovation with a lot of potentials in terms of better job opportunities in the country.
Metaverse is also heading towards remote learning which is far beyond just seeing recorded conventional video lectures. A massive open skilling initiative launched by Meta (formerly Facebook) in India recently using Metaverse. Around 10 million students and skill levels in schools from grade 6-12 are being benefited from it.
Challenges remain
Every technology wave goes through various phases and the Metaverse is no exception to it. Right now there are billions of dollars being invested into it and continuous development is being done but still, the concern over return on investment cannot be ruled out completely. The fear of cyber breach, stealing of virtual identities, shady financial transactions etc. is inevitable for now as Metaverse is continuously pushing mankind into a virtual reality that is highly unpredictable in the present time. Therefore, with Decentralisation added as a layer in the Metaverse value chain, there is also scope for self-regulation. Metaverse is here to stay for sure but it is to be decided in which context and form. But surely, India will play a large role in its development and application.
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