India Offers Cutting Edge IT Technologies at Frugal Cost: IT Secretary

The 15th edition of Indiasoft (India IT Show) was kicked off in Delhi today. The international IT event and conferences are attended by over 400 delegates om abroad. Reuters

The 15th edition of Indiasoft (India IT Show) was kicked off in Delhi today. The international IT event and conferences are attended by over 400 delegates om abroad. Billed as the one of the largest IT shows focused on small and medium enterprises and organized by Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC), the show was participated by 150 exhibitors from India.

Addressing the inaugural of the Indiasoft, Mr. RS Sharma, Secretary, Department of IT & Electronics, Government of India said that India offered a wide variety  of sophisticated IT  technologies at frugal  cost to the technology acquirers and solution providers from all over India.

Sketching the dramatic transformations taking place in the digital  eco-system of India, Mr. Sharma said tat digital India program wold be a game changer in India’s march towards development. All social welfare and governance programs  would be working on digital platform. For instance the unique identification  program launched by the Government has so far enlisted 750 million people   and it wold be covering the entire population. The cost of enlisting an individual in the scheme might work out to be cheapest in the world.While similar ID card program  in the UK cost Pound 150 per individual, in India it entailed only Rs 100 only. It could even work out to be cheaper, when the project gets completed.
Mr. Sharma invited  the foreign delegates to adapt the Indian technologies, which combine innovation with frugality, speed and scale.

That suited the need and affordability of countries, which are passing through various stages  of development. Also, a variety of newer technologies are developed such as digital lockers, digital certificates etc. which would enable a person to store digitally all records and forward them as and when they are required by  relevant organizations . Enhanced digitization would also help eliminate the last mile leakages in some of the social welfare programs like employment guarantee, subsidy  transfer  programs etc.

Referring to the financial inclusion programs being launched by the government, Mr. Sharma mentioned that   the high mobile phone penetration would be used to reach out the target group. India has over 950 million mobile phones. Since the PC and broad and penetration  are  not very high, mobile texting would be used for reaching out the target group to inform them about their bank balances and other facilities like direct subsidy transfer etc,. At  the same time, every effort will be  taken to increase the quality broadband penetration. India wold have 250,000 touch points connected with optical  fiber , wherein every person would have access to the net.

Mr Nalin Kohli, Chairman, Organizing Committee, Indiasof Referred to the steady growth in India’s software and services exports, which is estimated to touch US 86 billion this year,  He  said that  year after year, this amount was increasing. Also, a new cusp of IT revolution was sweeping across  the country, wherein the exports thrust was accompanied by increased IT spend domestically. This would have a huge impact on the manufacturing sector,  education, governance etc.  He  traced the growth of IT software and services in India and the role played by the ESC in facilitating   the exports  from a few millions in 1980’s  to close to US$ 100 billion. He assured that the ESC and Indiasoft would continue to give a proactive leadership to IT companies in the country.

Mr   J K Jadoo, Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India said that the IT sector would emerge as a one trillion dollar  worth segment by 2025 and India would be home to over 1000 cutting edge technologies. He said that four focus regions were identified for augmenting IT exports, such as CIS, Africa, ASEAN and Latin America, which are the emerging markets for software and services. Oceanic countries like Australia provided immense opportunities  for Indian IT companies besides the traditional markets like the US, UK and Germany. He also referred to India’s effort to open up customized supply chains, which could rake in a huge  export demand.

. Vinod Sharma, Chairman, ESC said that the Indiasoft platform continued to grow faster in its stature and importance. Presently, it has emerged as one of the most popular platforms for small and medium IT companes in India to  transact global  businesses with the least cost.

Mr D K Sareen, Executive Director, ESC referred to the innovative approaches of ESC to enhance the presence of Indian IT companies across the global digital  eco-system. Later addressing a press conference along with a high-powered delegation from Russia on the potential of the Indo-Russian cooperation in IT, he said that areas like R&D, development of complex products and solutions should merit the attention of both countries not only for each others requirements but for third country exports.

Importantly, ESC has signed a number of MOUs with important business organizations from various parts of the world such as Brazil, Poland and Nepal and its statistical year book was released.