Nasscom to begin work on cyber security task force next month

PM Modi had asked Nasscom to set up a task force to solve increasingly growing cyber security menace

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) is currently on the job of working on a task force to enhance cyber security in the country, according to its president R Chandrasekhar.

“We will form a committee in the next one month or so, which will evolve a plan on how to go ahead,” he told mediapersons on the sidelines of Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association (Hysea)’s Annual Summit and Awards 2015, held here on Thursday.

It may be recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on March 1, 2015, suggested Nasscom that a task force be set up to solve the growing cyber security menace in India.  

Chandrasekhar said the software industry body was also proposing to launch a global campaign to create awareness on the uprising Indian IT’s growing prowess to countries like Japan, China and Korea.

Stating that the Indian IT and BPM (business process management) industry (including hardware and ecommerce) was expected to aggregate $146 billion in FY15, a growth of 13 per cent over the previous fiscal, he said it was expected to reach $165-169 billion, with a net addition of around 230,000 jobs, in FY16.

“We still see a volatility of macro-economic variables (global economy, currency, inflation, political and mobility of skilled professional),” he said, adding repositioning of India as a destination of high-value globalised solution was continuing.

According to him, the startup landscape is driving the innovation in the country. While there are over 3,100 startups in India, with the funding being $2.3 billion since 2010, the country is creating close to 800 startups every year.

“The central government, in association with Nasscom, is planning to set up five centres of excellence (CoEs) across the country to promote startups in the area of Internet of Things (IoT). The idea, however, is still in the preliminary stage,” he said.

Chandrasekhar said the government’s own investments need to be stepped up for digitising India, including in the areas of education, health care and social security. “Budgetary allocations are not commensurate,” he said. “If we want a rapid migration to digital economy, then it is very important that we have a regulatory-friendly environment to facilitate this transformation.”