Prasad meets IT, ITeS sector leaders to develop roadmap for $ 1 trillion digital economy

Digital India being one of the most important programmes of the Union Government, the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) yesterday organized a high-level consultation with the industry leaders from IT and ITeS sector with focus on digital financial services and e-commerce in order to develop the roadmap for a $ 1 trillion digital economy in India.

The meeting was chaired by Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad. Minister of State P. P. Chaudhary, Ms. Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary in the Ministry and Dr. Ajay Kumar, Additional Secretary, were amongst those present.

The industry was represented by leading corporate houses and industry associations like Infosys, IBM, Wipro, Google, Microsoft, Mahindra Tech, Intel Corporation, Panasonic India, NIIT, Quickheal, Practo, Hike, Lava International Ltd, Cyient Ltd, IVCA, NPCI, NASSCOM, IAMAI, and so on.

An official press release said the industry leaders welcomed the initiative of the government and asserted that an effective partnership between government and the private sector is the key for creating One Trillion $ Digital Economy in India. Better dispute resolution mechanisms for PPP projects, promoting emerging technologies like cloud, big data, GIS and AI through industry collaboration and strengthening the legal framework for data security were some of the key areas where government needed to take reform measures for implementing the roadmap, they said.

In his opening remarks, Mr Prasad said, “India is well set to become US$ 1 Trillion Digital Economy in next seven years and it rather looks an easy target. However, the challenge would be to reach this target in 3-4 years. I appeal to the industry to join hands with the Government which firmly believes in openness, supportive and proactive approach.

“India is committed to take lead in the ongoing digital revolution in the world and I would appreciate industry’s participation and support in this mission. Through such discussion, we aim to seek contribution and participation of the private sector as we stride forward to make India a truly global Digital economy,” he added.

“The motto of the Government is to reform, perform and transform. Digital India is enabling technological empowerment that is bridging the gap between haves and have nots. India’s digital story is the story of a low-cost world class technology that is being hailed across the globe. I am very proud of the Indian IT Sector and I strongly believe that IT, ITeS, Ecommerce and financial services sectors will play a vital role to realize our aspirations of becoming a US$1 trillion digital economy. The trinity of JAM (Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile) and Digital Payment (DigiDhan) would also prove to be the biggest drivers of digital economy in the country,” he added.

The Minister also announced that the Government will come out with a new electronic and software product policy and a framework for data security and protection policy. Additionally, a GST Cell would be set up in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

Saying there was no threat of job losses in the IT sector, he said both the Government as well as the industry remained upbeat as more than 600,000 IT jobs were created in the last three years.

NNN