“Our ‘Digital India’ initiative will rely on the IT/BPM (business process management) sector for design, deployment and its continued success,” Jaitley said at a pre-budget consultative meeting with IT hardware and software groups.
Asserting that realisation of “Make in India” was inseparable from ICT (information and communication technologies), the finance minister told the industry’s representatives that the government was keen to leverage their sector’s strength, as manufacturing relied on IT for efficiencies and innovation leading to “know-why” of products and processes.
“We will certainly take further policy and regulatory initiatives, as large-scale production at competitive price for the global market will create employment and help us to reap demographic dividend, increase their purchasing power and generate a huge market within the country,” Jaitley said.
Noting that the industry had a crucial role in promoting e-governance and sustainable growth of electronics, IT and IT-enabled services, Jaitley said reviving manufacturing, diversifying its base and equipping it for robust expansion were the challenges of economic management over the next five years.
“The rapid growth of the IT industry, with $86-billion worth exports (2013-14) demonstrates its competitiveness and ability to overcome structural deficiencies related to business and policy environment,” he said.
Expansion of the IT/BPM industry’s portfolio and capabilities has made India the only country other than the US to provide end-to-end services across domains, including internet and e-commerce.
Infosys chief executive Vishal Sikka, Wipro chief financial officer Suresh Senapathy, TCS vice president Phiroz Vandrevala, HCL Technologies chief executive Anil Chanana, Cognizant vice chairman R. Chandresekaran and industry’s representative body’s (Nasscom) president R. Chandrashekar were among others who participated in the meeting.
Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha, Finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Dass, chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian and Secretary (electronics) Ratan Watal also attended the meeting.
(AGENCIES)