Reliance Jio-led super app battle to intensify in India in 2021

According to global market research firm Forrester, Covid-19 affected Asia Pacific first, and they expect the region will also emerge from the crisis first in 2021, before the US and Europe.

"APAC will see a platform surge. APAC is already home to some of the largest platforms in places like China and India. However, we will see this battle ratcheting up in intensity, especially in India," said Ashutosh Sharma, VP, Research Director.

Reliance's Jio Platforms has already blazed the trail with more than $20 billion investment in their digital business.

"They are simultaneously lining up more investments for their retail platform. Tata in India has thrown their hat in the ring with the announcement of their own super-app," Sharma said in a statement on Wednesday.

With Paytm and Walmart's Flipkart in the fray, India will see some serious competition among these platforms.

Targeting Google's dominance in the app distribution space in India, leading digital payments platform Paytm last week set up a Rs 10 crore fund as equity investments for mini app developers in the country.

Paytm has also launched an Android Mini App Store to support local developers in the country.

On 5G, Forrester said the technology will finally make an impact and China will be its epicentre.

"In China, with heavy government support, rapid rollouts across the country, and evolution of supporting tech, 5G will find an ideal breeding ground for innovations across various verticals," Sharma noted.

China's experimentation and adoption of 5G-enabled business models and 5G-led innovation will offer valuable lessons to other countries and enterprises.

Values-focused firms will deliver higher profits than those focusing on profits alone.

"Brands can no longer work in shadows with a constant spotlight on each of their actions, statements, and associations across social media. They must show their explicit commitment to respect customers' privacy, for example," Sharma emphasized.

"They must tackle complex economic, environmental, and social challenges that impact all of us. They must do so with integrity, competence, and transparency to earn the trust and loyalty of these values-conscious consumers".

The cybersecurity concerns will also dominate the agendas of businesses and governments alike.

"We will see increased adoption of Zero Trust and evolution of regulatory frameworks for data protection and privacy. Further, we expect firms to sharpen their focus on employee experience as they struggle to deal with people's aspect of pandemic," Sharma said.