Nasscom urges govt to set up Rs 500-crore tech mission

IT-BPO industry body Nasscom has urged the government to set up a technology entrepreneur mission with an initial capital of Rs 500 crore to address funding and infrastructure issues for start-up companies.
At present, 80 per cent of the USD 118-billion industry is represented by less than 200 companies, while the rest are more than 15,000 firms which are mostly medium, small and start-ups, Nasscom President R Chandrashekhar said.
"Therefore, we have suggested that a technology entrepreneur mission needs to be launched by the government with an allocation of Rs 500 crore on a continuous basis to look at issues related to funding and infrastructure," Chandrashekhar told reporters here today.

Globally, a lot of countries adapt this method to attract entrepreneurs and companies and many of them are also trying to attract Indian firms, he added.
The mission should be announced in the current budget, he said, adding that "it is important for the government to send out a signal that it recognises the importance of this segment."
He said that taxes on angel investors should also be reviewed, since investments made by them are risky in nature.

Replying to a query about the sector's growth, he said the IT-ITeS industry is expected to grow at 13 per cent to 15 per cent during the current fiscal.

"One of the largest growth areas is social media, mobility, analytics and cloud (SMAC). This is growing at twice the rate of growth of the industry in general," he said.
On hiring by IT companies this year, Chandrashekhar said recruitments would be on par with that of last year.
"Projection in terms of manpower becomes difficult, but it is certain that it (hiring) is growing at half of what the industry is growing," he said.
The domestic IT industry's growth is not so encouraging for a variety of reasons, he said, adding that though the US economy has returned to its original stature, the European market is not growing as expected, he said.