Digital Tech Adoption in Indian Construction - Study

New Delhi, Jul 30 (PTI) Construction companies in India are increasingly adopting digital technologies to assist project delivery, optimise internal processes and overcome the impact of industry challenges such as growing raw material costs and labour costs, a study has said.

Indian companies are exploring a range of newer technologies aiding all the facets of the business including data analytics, construction wearables, prefabrication and modular construction (57 per cent), as well as the integration of cloud software and mobile applications to streamline and manage projects efficiently, it said.

Autodesk, Inc recently announced the launch of the second edition of its State of Digital Adoption in the Construction Industry 2024 report in collaboration with Deloitte.

The report is based on insights from 933 construction firms across six markets including Singapore, Australia, Japan, India, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

Businesses were asked about their use of 16 digital technologies, and the number of technologies that were indicated in use counted. The average number of technologies in use was 5.3, with responses covering the whole range from 0 to 16.

Indian companies surpassed their counterparts from markets such as Australia, Japan, and Singapore in terms of investments in newer technologies with 28 per cent of their business expenditure on average being directed towards integrating newer technologies.

Further, robotics and automated systems were identified as the technology most planned for by Indian businesses followed by augmented and virtual reality and artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).

"While challenges like increasing prices of raw materials and growing competition persist in the Indian market, its current strong economic state and steady outlook for the forthcoming years, as reported by the IMF, have provided a congenial atmosphere for businesses to evaluate and adopt newer technologies, and consequently lead the Asia Pacific market in terms of investments in transformational technologies.

"Indian businesses have aptly recognized this phase as the ideal time to leverage digital technologies to identify newer growth pockets, usher in efficiencies throughout project lifecycles and give them a competitive edge," said Sumit Oberoi, Senior Industry Strategist, Asia Pacific at Autodesk.

"Priority areas for construction businesses to improve digital adoption include starting small, selecting a digital champion, tracking a range of success measures, and asking whether your business is AI ready," he added.