Indian corporates have been investing in metaverse and related technologies. However, metaverse could become successful if it is affordable, regulated, safe and secure. Every industry will have its own unique criteria to adopt metaverse.

Metaverse, by definition, is 3-D shared space created by convergence of virtually enhanced physical and digital reality. A complete metaverse will be device-independent. It will not be owned by a single vendor. It will be a virtual economy itself powered by digital currencies and NFTs.

What comes in the way of metaverse adoption? Data privacy, interoperability and digital immaturity are impediments in the adoption of metaverse. There is limited understanding of the technology. What is currently being marketed as metaverse has no interoperability with respect to products and services. There are harassment hacking and data breach threats. The participants could show offensive behaviour. The cost of hardware is high — ocular glasses, haptic suites etc.

Wider adoption depends on the ability of the platforms and communities governing it to ensure safe and secure experience.

The regulation and laws can shape the adoption of technology.

There could be phases in the evolution of metaverse — emerging, advanced and mature. India has just seen the emerging phase. These are the precursors represented by the available resources — social networks, online games, e-commerce, cryptos and NFTs.

By 2026, India’s retail industry will be valued at $1.4 billion. e-commerce market will grow to $120-140 billion by 2026.

Live commerce will vie with e-commerce in APAC. Live streaming is set to grow as it offers retailers an opportunity to bring their brands closer to the consumer.

India’s live commerce market is expected to touch GMV of $4-5 billion by 2025. YouTube is set to tap the live-stream commerce market in India where creators with 20000 subscribers will be able to tag shopping links to their videos and do live streaming. Amazon Live recently featured 150 creators who live-streamed and promoted products in-between their shows.

Programmers are using heavily the five languages by volume — Jawa, Python, SQL, C++ and JavaScript. The sixth most used language is Bash. JavaScript has nearly four times the volume of Bash. In 2022, SQL has grown at a steady pace. It has managed to surpass C++. The other lower-ranked languages are Bash, C#, Go, Typescript, R, PHP, C, Swift and Ruby.

Public-key Cryptography: It enables identification by using digital signatures or identification mechanisms over the internet without actually meeting the people in advance. It enables secret messaging between people who have never met.

Zero-Knowledge Proof : It proves essentially that the theoretical mathematical claims are correct, without actually revealing the proof. In application, it enables proving the identity without revealing information which will enable someone to impersonate you in the future. In context of blockchain, it will prove a particular smart contract has been executed correctly.

Next Innovation : Collaboration between multiple people or multiple data holders, e.g. hospital which might have different cohorts of patients. Different hospitals can use cryptography to share information of a large number of patients and one specific hospital may not have enough number of patients for such a study. However, medical records are not to be divulged. Such a collaboration is possible using cryptography without revealing personal information of different entities.

Many Indian corporates have started upskilling their employees on metaverse-related projects. They will be taught to be avatars online. They will be trained on augmented reality (AR) and Internet-of-Things (IoT). The employees will navigate specific learning paths on the metaverse.

Corporates intend to train teams on key metaverse skills. They will be trained in data and analytics. Certain foundational skills necessary for metaverse are data visualisation, data engineering, digital twin, computer vision, AR, IoT, AI and blockchain.

These are the early days for fully leveraging the metaverse. It has exponential value. It may revolutionise every industry and function.

Flipkart is training employees through its Tech Marvel Programme. Synthecron plans to add 3D concept. The employees should be ready for metaverse projects.

Employees are being trained in core front-end skills and core game-design.

There are community-based small circulation home-made publications, called zines to publish art, writings and musings and poems. The medium is reproduced by photocopying, printing or using pen and paper.

At times, these are the opinions of socially marginalised groups published in leaflets and pamphlets.

Though non-commercial, some times these zines are priced per piece.

Zine making facilitates a way to survive independently. It creates community spaces. Though zines are personal expression, zines too offer peer-to-peer sharing, being interpersonal medium with a huge potential. Zines seem less intimidating than books as their size is small and their production archaic. They are an approachable medium.

Cryptos, as the RBI Governor calls them, are akin to gambling as there is no underlying value in it. Cryptos could not be called currency or asset or a financial product. He calls for a ban on cryptos.

To counter the cryptos, the RBI has introduced its own CBDC.

The value of cryptos depends on make believe amounting to speculation. Bluntly speaking, it is gambling. Since gambling is illegal, what is the need to regulate it?

CBDC is the future of money. Adoption of CBDC will spare the logistic and material costs.

Manufacturing employs 11% of our labour force. Manufacturing is governed by the Factories Act, 1948, a Central Act. It combines with State Factory Rules. The services are governed by the Shops and Establishments Act.

Maharashtra factory employer (with 100 employees) under the Factories Act and Rules have to comply with 502 provisions, file one return and maintain 9 registers.

A service organisation in Maharashtra (with 10000 employees) has to comply with 101 provisions, file one return and maintain two registers under the Shops and Establishments Act and Rules.

Both create jobs, and job creating organisations must not be heavily regulated. The regulation, in fact, must be invisible.

There is an urgent need to revamp the Factories Act.

India intends to work on indigenously developed mobile operating system called IndOS. It will be an initiative of the government, assisted by startups and academics. At present, Android operating system of Google accounts for 97 per cent share, and iOS of Apple commands a smaller share. India happens to be one of the largest mobile market. The objective is to develop a secure mobile operating system. As it is, Google is under scrutiny in India. It has been fined for abusing its dominant position through Play Store by the CCI and has been asked to allow sideloading of apps from different developers to reduce its monopoly. In that case, Google wants to shift the security and user safety of sideloaded applications to the mobile device makers. The prices of these devices would shoot up. Device makers feel that security and safety is the job of the government and Google. It is for Google to settle with the government about the security and safety of the sideloaded apps.

Mobile makers in India too push for an indigenous operating system. It could be supported by the Big Tech or could be totally independent.

The CCI decision has stirred up a hornets nest. If Google disowns the security and safety of sideloaded apps, it is for the government to decide who will scrutinise these apps.

The CCI order compels Google to change its business model. At present, it offers its operating system free to mobile brands. In return, it pre-installs some key applications by default on these phones.

IIT, Madras has developed a mobile operating system (OS) with government funding called Bharat OS. It could be ‘Android forks’ as these could be modified versions of Android. The source code of Android is free, which leads to the development of forks.

There are apps to correct the tune in songs. At times, even an established singer suffers from respiratory distress and is on antibiotics. In such situations, the technology helps. However, it is not correct to depend solely on technology to record a song. At times, a professional singer feels like redoing a line. The recordist has Melodyne, an audio pitch modification tool. It could be used, rather than reading a line or two. However, the output clearly shows that the song has gone through a processor and sounds metallic and/or unreal. There are singers who have capacity to sing without using technology. It requires practice or riyaz. It is of primary importance to a singer. Film songs contain phrases on the beat. They are rhythmically not complicated. Previously, if a singer was off-key, or was unable to catch a beat, the only option was redoing since the tools and apps did not exist then.