Middling budget for IT sector: Arun Jain

Even though the IT industry is pegged to be worth $60 billion, it didn't find any mention in the Budget, according to Arun Jain, chairman and CEO, Polaris Software Lab Ltd. However, he added, "we picked up some words like IT and governance, where the IT has a backbone for governance, as IT isrelated to manufacturing, agriculture and the distribution part of it".

With the government envisioning synergy of governance with technology there is, Jain added, "an opportunity of public private partnership with IT as a sheer backbone even though there wasn't any such mention in the Budget".

Jain expressed displeasure at the non-addressal of the demand for extension of Software Technology Parks of India (STPI). "The STPI should have extended at least to next three years for the growth of the industry. The industry has to remain as a global centre. They are thinking it as a system for simplification and distribution connecting the rural segment with Indian economy."