JOIN USThe government has approved the National Policy on Information Technology, which aims to make at least one individual in every household e-literate among other objectives, Department of Electronics and IT (DEITy) Secretary J Satyanarayana said on Tuesday.
“The IT policy addresses number of issues regarding the development of the ICT sector and using it for the growth of the country, not only from the point of exports, but equal emphasis on domestic sector as well,” he added.
The industry’s goal is to reach $100 billion turnover and $200 billion of exports by 2020. The policy envisions strengthening India’s position as the global IT hub and using technology as an engine for rapid, inclusive and sustainable growth of the national economy.
The policy aims to help increase revenues of the Indian IT and ITeS industry from $88 billion to $300 billion by 2020 and to ramp up exports from $59 billion to $200 billion by 2020.
Innovation and R&D
The policy will also promote innovation and R&D in cutting-edge technologies and development of applications and solutions in areas like localisation, location-based services, mobile-value added services, cloud computing, social media and utility models.
It will provide fiscal benefits to small and medium enterprises and startups in key industrial sectors for adoption of IT in value creation, besides, aiming to create a pool of 10 million additional skilled manpower in Information and Communication Technologies and make at least one individual in every household e-literate.
The policy is also expected to provide for mandatory delivery of all public services in electronic mode, along with affordable access, to enhance transparency and accountability. It aims to strengthen the regulatory and security framework for ensuring a secure cyberspace ecosystem.