The government Wednesday exhorted the export-driven Indian information technology (IT) industry to focus on the domestic market to sustain a double digit growth and leverage its expertise for inclusive growth in the country.
“The Indian IT industry has done a terrific job on exports over the years. As export growth rate declines due to global economic slowdown and competition from other countries, the industry should tap the huge potential in the domestic market,” said J. Satyanarayana, secretary, department of electronics and IT at the Bangalore.ITbiz 2012 event here.
Noting that the IT industry was at cross-roads due to challenges posed by disruptive technologies and the changing needs of enterprises and end-users, the official said if the momentum had to be sustained and make a demographic difference, the industry had to innovate more products and customise solutions required for the masses.
“The industry needs to replicate the success of the telecom sector, which revolutionised mobile communication and empowered even the common man. Similarly, there is a tremendous scope to leverage the benefits of ICT in education, healthcare, agriculture, power, transportation and infrastructure to improve the quality of life and living standards,” Satyanarayana said at the event.
To achieve the ambitious target of $300-billion set for 2020, Satyanarayana told about 500 delegates that the IT industry spanning software and electronics hardware would have to grow at 14-15 percent annually during the next eight years.
“Due to global slowdown and sluggish growth in the domestic market, the industry growth has declined to 10-12 percent. We have to bridge the gap to grow at the required rate by investing in the domestic sector, which will also lead to more jobs and increasing penetration of computing devices in the country,” the official asserted.
The IT industry clocked $101 billion in last fiscal 2011-12, including $70 billion from export of software services and products, employing 2.8 million techies directly in seven cities and a dozen tier-two cities across the country.
“The industry has the potential to employ an additional 6.1 million people over the next eight years and double its contribution to the national GDP (gross domestic product) from 7.5 percent currently,” the official pointed out.
For facilitating the growth, the government has come out with an ICT policy in Sept and chalking out strategies to create an enabling environment with a multi-pronged approach to infrastructure, innovation, incentives and implementation.