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The video conferencing market in India is growing By Manish Dixit

The Indian video conferencing end points market witnessed brisk growth of 23.1% in 2008. The overall market is expected grow at a CAGR of 23.9% and is expected to reach a size of $132.3 million by 2015.

The government vertical is the largest adopter of videoconferencing end points followed by corporate. Both the verticals combined account for more than 50% of end point consumption. The federal Indian government has been an early adopter of video conferencing solutions and is using video conferencing for various e-governance initiatives. Some segmented applications used by the government are telemedicine, tele-justice and e- learning. The use of tele-justice, which is a video conferencing link between the remotely located accused and the court, is witnessing increased adoption by the various state governments in India.

Tele-justice adoption fulfills real needs

The security of the government employees and the public is a top priority in the judicial and law enforcement agencies. Apart from this the law enforcement agencies have to arrange for alleged offenders to be transported between its prisons and the state's criminal courts for pre-trials. However some unforeseen challenges can arise when funding manpower and vehicles which are often in short supply, or if prisoners escape on the way to their trials. Increasing the security of government employees and the public is a top priority in the judicial and law enforcement community. Video conferencing solutions optimize time and resources by eliminating the requirement for defendants, victims and judges to sit in the same room during preliminary proceedings creating a protected legal and penal environment.

The deployment of video conferencing solutions in tele-justice tends to increase the efficiency of criminal justice system by helping the judiciary, police, and prisons department by speeding up the judicial process, saving manpower with increased security, while realizing discernible time and cost efficiencies.

Video conferencing solutions in judicial systems are primarily used for:

• Speeding up the adjudication process
• Eliminating the extra costs for transportation, housing and security concerns that are incurred by moving inmates to and fro from jails and courtrooms

Current deployment status

States such as Tamil Nadu, Maharastra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Bihar have already introduced tele-justice. Andhra Pradesh was one of the first Indian states to introduce these electronic trials called e-pretrials connecting 15 district courts with prisons and installing 31 video end points, whereby the alleged criminals are tried in prison using video conferencing, rather than physically appearing in a court of law.

In Maharashtra, more than 40 jails in and around Mumbai are connected to district level courts through video conferencing. The government is planning to connect 300 jails 2,000 courts through video conferencing.

In the case of Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist caught alive in the Mumbai 2008 carnage, the accused has never been produced in an open court due to security concerns and the trials would most likely be conducted through video conferencing from his prison. The sessions court has brought video conferencing trials to the forefront, especially those that involve a high level of security and manpower.

The conferencing systems used in e-Trials allow judges, legal professionals, court officials, inmates and witnesses to seamlessly communicate face-to-face in real-time, connecting more than one courtroom during a trial, and enables the use of more than one application. These systems offer a simple user interface, which allows non-technical users such as judges and court staff, to easily operate and maintain the judicial video conferencing system making them a hot favorite among other conferencing systems.

Looking forward-increasing adoption expected

During 2008, the video conferencing market has witnessed the growth of new prospects. The Government of India has taken nation-wide project to connect jails and district courts across the country via video conferencing systems.

States like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharastra, Gujarat and Bihar have made video conferencing systems an integral part of their justice system. Punjab, Haryana and Jharkhand have shown keen interest in deploying video conferencing systems for E-trials. As per their plans, this facility will be used only in case of dangerous criminals and relatives of the prisoners would not need to travel from remote areas to jails to meet the prisoners. Now, all they have to do is travel to their respective Pragya Kendras (Common Service Centers) in their blocks to talk to the jail inmate via video conferencing.

Currently over 100 of the total 252 blocks are connected through video conferencing facilities and there are plans to connect the rest as well. The Haryana Government has already sanctioned Rs 45.2 million for installation of the video conferencing system in jails and courts to eliminate the possibility of escape of dangerous undertrials from police custody during transit from jails to courts and back. At least 25 video studios in jails and 39 in various courts are being deployed. Other states are also expected to follow the suit.

With the help of Tele- Justice, the accused can now be present in a court through a video link, established on ISDN lines, between the prison and the court. Tele-Justice is still in its embryonic stage in India, and is growing as a focus area by major vendors of videoconferencing. Growth is expected to be rapid with increasing government adoption in the coming years.

As the demand for video conferencing grows, full scale deployments are expected in this vertical in the long term.

About the Author
Manish Dixit is a Research Analyst with Consulting Practice tracking emerging technologies in the area of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). He focuses on monitoring and analyzing emerging trends, technologies and market dynamics in Telecommunication Services and Wireless Technologies in South Asia and Middle East.
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