National IT Policy okayed;aims to make 1 per family e-literate

"The IT policy has been cleared by the Government of India recently and the Policy addresses number of issues regarding the development of the ICT sector and using it for the growth of the country, not only from the point of exports...

"...But an equal emphasis on the domestic sector as well," Department of Electronics and IT (DEITy) Secretary J Satyanarayana told PTI at the sidelines of the Skoch Summit here.

He added the industry's goal is to reach USD 100 billion turnover and USD 200 billion of exports by 2020.

The Policy envisions strengthening India's position as the global IT hub and using technology as an engine for rapid, inclusive and sustainable growth of the national economy.

The policy aims to help increase revenues of the Indian IT and ITeS industry from USD 88 billion to USD 300 billion by 2020 and ramp up exports from USD 59 billion to USD 200 billion by 2020.

The policy will also promote innovation and R&D in cutting edge technologies and development of applications and solutions in areas like localisation, location-based services, mobile-value added services, cloud computing, social media and utility models.

It will provide fiscal benefits to small and medium enterprises and startups in key industrial sectors for adoption of IT in value creation, besides, aiming to create a pool of 10 million additional skilled manpower in Information and Communication technologies and make at least one individual in every household e-literate.

The Policy is also expected to provide for mandatory delivery of and affordable access to all public services in electronic mode to enhance transparency and accountability.

It also aims to strengthen the regulatory and security framework for ensuring a secure cyberspace ecosystem.