Facebook CEO Zuckerberg says India's entrepreneurial spirit driving optimism

Mark Zuckerberg says India has a “entrepreneurial spirit” combined with the scale is fuelling a lot of the internet economy in India.

Zuckerberg also said that metaverse is going to be the successor to the mobile internet. (PTI Photo)

Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg says that India's entrepreneurial spirit and massive scale is fuelling optimism about the future and the opportunities that the country presents. Speaking at Meta's Fuel for India 2021, Zuckerberg also said he is excited about the role that India will play in building the metaverse.

Meta, which has recently evolved from Facebook, has been going gaga about the digital space and internet economy with its metaverse. "The reason why India is so exciting to me is two things that combined together make for something special - the entrepreneurial spirit combined with the scale of what can happen... That is what is fuelling a lot of the internet economy in India already, but it also makes me so optimistic about the future here," he said.

India's internet economy is booming, says Zuckerberg

He added that India's talent pool, which comprises of engineers, developers and creators, and the vibrant startup ecosystem, are playing a huge role in shaping the future.

"India is on track to have the largest app developer base in the world by 2024, and already has one of the largest Spark AR developer communities. The online gaming sector in India has seen a lot of growth over the past few years and our investment in gaming in the country keeps growing as we look at how it's going to take shape in the metaverse," he said.

Talking about the company's vision of metaverse, Zuckerberg said metaverse is going to be the successor to the mobile internet. Metaverse essentially refers to a combination of multiple technologies, including virtual reality, augmented reality and video where users reside within a digital universe. Microsoft is also on this metaverse trend.

"It's this immersive internet where you're in it rather than seeing it... This is going to be an internet where you feel like you're there and you're present with people and in other places. And, I think it's this continuation of the technological trends that we've seen over the last few decades," he pointed out.

Zuckerberg noted that the metaverse will not be built by any one company and will need collaborative efforts.

"And that's what we're so excited about seeing here in India is the developer ecosystem, the ecosystem of individual entrepreneurs, the spirit around that is one of the things that makes India so special and is (why) I think we're going to see a huge amount of (the foundation) get built here in India," he said.

Zuckerberg said that the company is investing in other growing areas like education and commerce through investments in Unacademy and Meesho.

"We want to continue to partner in all of these areas as we accelerate the development of the fundamental technologies, the social platforms and creative tools that are going to be necessary to bring the metaverse to life... We want to make sure that we can do our part to continue unlocking this (India's) potential," he emphasized.