At a meeting of the Indian technology industry’s stalwarts, the IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad called for greater cooperation between the government and industry and proposed setting up of special innovation zones to support startups better.
The government estimates the digital economy to surpass USD 1.115 trillion by 2024-25.
The industry consultation in New Delhi on Friday lasted for over two hours and was attended by names such as Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan, Wipro's chief strategy officer Rishad Premji, Google India managing director Rajan Anandan, Hike CEO Kavin Bharti Mittal, Practo CEO Shashank ND, among others.
The round table was organised by the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) to discuss “Developing the roadmap- 1 trillion dollar digital economy”.
The minister said the industry as well as the government agrees that India has the potential to surpass USD 1 trillion target in the next few years.
The participants discussed ways in which Indian startups can contribute to the economy, proposing a framework for promoting startups through a “startup cluster policy”.
The minister said that MeitY would be coming out with a new electronics and software products policies, as well as a framework for data security and data protection in the country.
He further said that an intersection of Digital India and Startup India programmes needs to be explored, especially in the agriculture, education and healthcare domains. The minister said that MeitY would work closely with the respective ministries in these fields.
Here are Government’s estimates of sectoral breakup of India’s 'trillion dollar digital economy' by 2025:
| Item | 2016-17 | 2024-25 |
| IT/ITeS | $ 160 Bn | $ 350 Bn |
| Electronics | $ 100 Bn | $ 300 Bn |
| Telecom | $ 80 Bn | $ 150 Bn |
| E-Commerce | $ 30 Bn | $ 150 Bn |
| Digital Payments | $ 3 Bn | $ 50 Bn |
| Cyber Secutiry | $ 18 Bn | $ 35 Bn |
| IoT | $ 6 Bn | $ 20 Bn |
| Sharing Economy | $ 1 Bn | $ 30 Bn |
| Digital Skilling | $ 15 Bn | $ 30 Bn |
| Total | $ 413 Bn | $ 1.115 Tn |
On layoffs in IT Sector
The minister downplayed concerns about IT layoffs and said the IT industry has ample employment opportunities. He said that a big BPO market stands untapped in India, and that the industry is a net hirer of talent.
He further said that the industry and the government will work together on digital skill development.
Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Kris Gopalakrishnan told Moneycontrol, “We haven’t seen mass layoffs. The business is usual. It is a transformation stage that every industry goes through. The industry has ample resources to re-skill manpower.”
Rishad Premji said that all organisations are looking to hire more people locally in the different geographies they operate in.
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