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: A holistic policy framework is needed

Technology is a way of life, unstoppable and ever evolving. Personal computer (PC) and broadband penetration help bridge the divide in society by making timely information available to people thus opening new avenues of enabling commerce.

There is a direct and favourable correlation between the number of PCs per inhabitant and the per capita GDP of the country. For a country like China, the per capita GDP is expected to increase from $8,000 to $18,000 as PC penetration increases from 5% to 24% from 2005 to 2015. Countries like Korea, Singapore and Sweden attribute their inclusive economic growth over the past decade greatly to the increased PC and broadband penetration. India too is poised for a similar growth and hence there is an urgent need to increase PC and broadband penetration on war footing.

The monetary and fiscal measures announced by the government in the recent past have been able to instill confidence in the industry to an extent.

With lower than expected consumption of IT products in the financial year 2008-09 owing to the economic slowdown, the industry hopes for a long term growth oriented policy.

Since last one year, the PC market fell dramatically. Compared to similar period of previous years, the PC market declined 27% in the Q4 ’08 quarter and 19% in Q1 ’09. Successively in the last four quarters, IDC has lowered its 2009 forecast. From a high of 11.5 million units forecasted in Q1 ’08, IDC now forecasts the 2009 PC sales at 7.65 million units.

At the current pace, Indian PC market forecast for 2009 is 7.6 million units lower than the 8.1 million units achieved in 2008 which was economically weak. The PC industry is in need of affirmative action from the government. India must take steps to increase the size of PC and broadband market, similar to comparable economies like China, where the annual PC market is at 40.61 million units.

A holistic policy framework is needed to fillip the IT industry in India. In that regard, vision for IT set up by the ruling party in their manifesto can form the strategic core. I would like to highlight the key goals mentioned in the manifesto. We will connect all villages to a broadband network in three years time. This will help locate new, non agricultural jobs in villages and open vast new opportunities for our rural youth.