In as much as people identify with blockchain as a platform that supports the creation of cryptocurrencies, there is more to it than that. While Blockchain technology is revolutionizing the money market by enabling the creation of digital wealth, its potential to elevate and boost the economic growth of countries is far-reaching. India has identified this and is exploring the use of blockchain technology to create wealth and improve the lives of its citizens. This is leading to high demand in blockchain technology jobs in India.
The scope of blockchain technology jobs in India
Despite the myriad of challenges bedeviling the integration of blockchain technology applications in India, it has not diminished the enthusiasm and widespread adoption of blockchain technology. Dappros, a London-based consulting firm, reports that India comes second only to the United States in terms of its available number of blockchain developers in the world. This would not come as a surprise to those who have closely monitored the deliberate actions taken by the government, aimed at providing an enabling environment to support the incorporation of blockchain technology.
In 2018, the policy think tank of the Indian government, NITI Aayog, organized an International Blockchain Congress in 2018 in conjunction with the state governments of Telangana and Goa. The idea behind the Congress was to explore ways that can encourage adoption of the blockchain technology in India. As it stands, India ranks 6th in the world in terms of the number of blockchain technology patents it has approved.
These deliberate actions by the government show that it understands the potential inherent within blockchain. Consequently, its approach towards exploring and understanding the possible outcomes of blockchain technology in the country is paving a new path for positive growth and development. Blockchain companies are now working towards using this technology to bring about advancements in sectors such as fishery industries and waste management.
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In terms of employment, the demand for blockchain technology jobs in India is surging. This demand for jobs in blockchain technology is higher in areas such as Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, and Chennai, according to data from Indeed, a leading global job site. This has encouraged blockchain companies and schools to educate the youth-dominated population on the uses of blockchain technology and on how to start a career in blockchain technology. Some companies are even pioneering the introduction of blockchain technology in HR.
India still has much to benefit from blockchain technology in terms of future increase in job creation. Reports from the job site, Indeed, shows an upward trend in the number of blockchain technology jobs since the latter half of 2017. Blockchain-related jobs such as blockchain developer, manager, software engineer, to mention a few, have seen the most increases in job openings.
To prepare for the future economic windfall that is expected, Indian blockchain technology companies are expanding the scope of blockchain training with FinTech courses alongside work, so that employees are well informed on the relatively new technology, and they can apply all the new technologies as they learn on the job.
The advantages of blockchain technology in India, aside from creating an avenue that ushers in massive economic growth in India, is enormous. However, the nonexistence of a central regulator opens it up for illegal, which places a damper on any potential good the technology can have. The Indian government is taking necessary steps towards a continuous exploration of the uses of blockchain in a way that will advance the growth of India’s digital economy.
Understanding blockchain technology
In simple terms, blockchain refers to a system that supports the chronological storage of transactions that takes place across a peer-to-peer network. According to PWC’s report, “It is an interlinked and continuously expanding list of records stored securely across many interconnected systems. This makes blockchain technology resilient since the network has no single point of vulnerability. Additionally, each ‘block’ is uniquely connected to the previous blocks via a digital signature which means that making a change to a record without disturbing the previous records in the chain is not possible, thus rendering the information tamper-proof”.
After the financial crisis that rocked world economies in 2008, people lost confidence in the current financial system. There was a desire for a financial system that was less susceptible to the traditional ups and downs of the business cycle. It was then that a white paper containing the “bitcoin” protocol that uses ledger and consensus building to compute algorithms was submitted by “Satoshi Nakamoto”. The bitcoin protocol enabled individuals to carry out transactions without regulatory interference and, as such, was widely embraced.
The advantages of the blockchain over the current system is that it gives people the freedom to do transactions between themselves without any regulatory oversight. Which means, with the present financial system in place, there is no governing body regulating and checking transactions. The job of regulation is left to computer components connected to the blockchain technology called nodes. These nodes verify a transaction just like the central bank does. Once they confirm that the transaction is legitimate, the nodes will approve and the information is stored in a “block”.
With the way blockchain is designed, it is almost impossible to alter or tamper with data. This is because any information stored in a “block” contains elements of previous transactions. An attempt to try to alter any information will require that much transactional information is altered. This strengthens the confidence of users and increases trust in the system.
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How blockchain technology is shaping the future of businesses in India
We live in a digital economy. Tons of transactions are carried out through the internet daily. This has provided the perfect platform for blockchain to thrive and influence the way business is conducted by providing high standards of security, low financial cost transactions and an overall improvement in customer experience.
Alternative mode of payment: Before blockchain, sending and receiving money was never that easy. Blockchain has ushered in the era of cryptocurrency, which is now commonly adopted as an alternative currency. This has enabled individuals to carry out transactions in Bitcoin, PayPal, Stripe, or any other payment processor. The advantage of cryptocurrencies over traditional currencies is that transactions are conducted quickly and with ease. Cryptocurrencies are cheaper than conventional currencies. Consumers and businesses get to spend less on transactions and consolidate their savings.
Faster transactions: Transactions carried out through the blockchain network are faster than transactions carried out online. This is because blockchain works on a single network, and eliminates the need for third party involvement. The speed of online transactions are controlled by the network providers, and as such, transactions are conducted at the rate with which new blocks will be formed on the blockchain network. Since blockchain involves various systems, it enables business owners to reduce costs related to IT support administrative tasks and so forth.
Improved order fulfillment: One of the advantages of blockchain technology applications, especially for e-commerce platforms is that each block in the blockchain links to a previous block. This makes a visible chain of events that closely reflects the process of fulfilling an order. Information containing the steps a customer has taken to process an order on a blockchain-powered e-commerce website adds a new block to the chain as proof of work. As each step is completed, a block is automatically generated so that the entire order fulfilment is verified. Also, blockchain eradicates the incidences of payment conflicts and order details due to the blockchain public record.
Supply chain management: While Blockchain provides an efficiently secure and transparent method of tracking all order fulfilments and transactions, there is no limit to the number of possibilities it offers across the e-commerce supply chain. Record-keeping becomes simpler and easier through the use of blockchain as every detail of every transaction is permanently stored on the network. As a result, businesses can maximize the quality of their operations as there will be a reduction in added cost, time delays and human error.
Increased trust: The decentralized nature of blockchain makes it highly transparent. Users have unrestricted access to information related to transactions they initiated. It allows individuals to efficiently track the location of their stock at any time which is very helpful to boost commercial activities. In this way, trust is established between the customers and businesses, since the information on the network is free from third-party manipulation.
References:
- Top 7 Blockchain Developments In India – analyticsindiamag.com
- What is the scope of blockchain technology in India as a blockchain developer or blockchain manager? imarticus.org, May 6, 2019
- Blockchain Explained – Investopedia, Nathan Reiff, February 1, 2020
- Blockchain Technology: Opportunities and Challenges in India. Let’s Nurture
- How Blockchain Technology could Revolutionize the Business World? – PrimaFelicitas
- Blockchain: The next innovation to make our cities smarter – PWC
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