Leveraging technology to help improve lives

Rapid advances offer changemakers a great opportunity to leverage technology and bring about a positive change in society. Many have embraced it with both hands — be it a politician who wants to gather and mine data to solve problems and thereby offer better governance or others who want to improve people’s lives by offering easier and better mobility.

BusinessLine got a slew of nominations for the Changemaker – Digital Transformation category. After an in-depth evaluation, we shortlisted the following candidates:

N Chandrababu Naidu: Among politicians, the Andhra Pradesh chief minister is the biggest backer of technology. He has been leveraging technology to improve governance in India like never before. No other state has a data portal that is as comprehensive as Andhra Pradesh’s. From the core dashboard of this portal, Naidu monitors the performance of 33 departments.

Hotstar: This streaming platform from the Star India stable has been topping the charts in terms of downloads. It has revolutionised the way people watch their favourite programmes – be it a soap opera or a game of cricket. They can do it on tap and not have to be in front of a television.

Ola (ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd): Ola’s mission is to build mobility for one billion Indians and it seems well on its way to achieving this goal. Its services include AC cabs, luxury cabs, autorickshaws, shuttle buses, cycle rentals, outstation and corporate travel. Experts attribute its success to its innovative mindset.

Practo has come a long way from 2007, when it was just an appointment booking app. Today it caters to patients, doctors, diagnostic centres, hospitals and other healthcare providers. But its objective has remained the same from Day 1 – improve human longevity by simplifying healthcare.

SIDBI’s UdyamiMitra Portal: This is a comprehensive digital platform that provides MSMEs better access to credit as well as expertise. In just three months after its launch, the portal received over 19,500 loan applications (worth ₹3,100 crore), and 3,200 (worth ₹700 crore) were sanctioned.

The winners of the Changemaker awards will be announced at a function in New Delhi on March 16