India eyeing to become a trillion-dollar digital economy by 2022

Govt to push start-ups, new age IT solutions, financial technologies & cyber security

India is aiming to increase the turnover of its digital and the Information Technology (IT) industry to $1 trillion by 2022 from a current value of $270 billion as the country looks to focus on start-ups, financial technology and new age technologies.

Country's digital and IT industry, in its current form, is primarily driven by the IT and IT-enabled services and is estimated to stand at $150 billion, followed by financial services at $50 billion and electronics manufacturing at $40 billion.

According to Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, a major push will be given to services and offerings in the digital space with a focus on start-ups, new-age IT solutions, financial technologies and cyber security.

The government has also roped in McKinsey & Co to pace up the growth of digital services in the country. McKinsey will advise the government, while government think tank Niti Aayog will work with state governments in evaluating the preparedness towards digital services.

"The current size is around $270 billion, and our objective by 2022, it will be a $1 trillion economy," said Prasad during a briefing on the three years of Modi government on Tuesday.

Asked about the job cuts in IT firms, Prasad said that the figures shared in media are "highly exaggerated" and the government has asked industry association Nasscom, which denied that layoffs are happening.

The government is also keeping a close watch over developments in the IT industry and in the coming few days, the IT secretary is likely to meet industry leaders over the issue.

The Minister said so many jobs are created in the country on the back of schemes under Digital India. Lakhs of people are employed in common service centres (CSCs).

Employment trends are also changing with movement being witnessed from the IT business to areas such as e-commerce, fintech, start-ups, data analytics and cyber security, said the Minister while adding that there is an urgent need for skilling in the IT industry. 

"The software industry may have to change its business model," he added.

On the issue of H1B visa and employment of Indian IT professionals in the US, the Minister said that the issue has been raised at various levels and the Prime Minister will also raise this issue in his upcoming visit to the US.