At present, there is limited interoperability in the smart cities ecosystem that is locked in by bigger vendors. The technology trends in “Smart Homes”, “Smart Building”, “Smart Grid”, “Smart Water”, “Smart Transport” and “Smart Cities” are deployed in silos leading to inefficiencies. There is need for a common framework and defined architecture for the software, hardware and network infrastructure to be deployed. Since data is crucial for smart cities, a comprehensive data management standard in India will enable quick scaling and also instil public confidence and trust. Standards National Action Plan (SNAP) 2019 from BIS seeks to mitigate this problem by facilitating the creation of standardisation cells. However, we must guard against the general lack of coordination on an inter-ministerial level as well the centre and other private entities. As of 24th June, 2020, no standardisation cells are visible on the BIS website.
