Policy & Regulation
TT Correspondent | 17 Jun 2017Electronics and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, on Friday held a high-level meeting with tech industry captains including Rishad Premji of Wipro, Rajan Anandan of Google, Vanitha Narayanan of IBM, Kavin Bharti Mittal of Hike and many others to discuss on how to create a road map for the $1-trillion digital economy.
“We will be shortly laying out a new electronics policy to boost electronics manufacturing. There is a need to look inwards for software in Indian markets therefore we’ll go with a new software policy and we are also going to have a framework for a data security and data protection policy,” said Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union minister for electronics and information technology.
Prasad said IT, e-commerce, communications, electronics manufacturing, Internet of Things, start-ups and cyber security will be among the key drivers for achieving the $1 trillion digital economy target.
After a brainstorming session that lasted for over two hours and was meant to work out a road map for the $1-trillion digital economy, Prasad said some participants spoke about the need for developing startup clusters – which will be like special innovation zones where startups can work together.
Premji said the conversation around job losses was a bit exaggerated. On the impact of protectionism in the US, he said there has been no change in US policies yet.
The government will also consider the potential of low-cost cyber security products and will also explore the intersection of Digital India and Startup India, especially in the areas of healthcare, agriculture and education as pointed out by the industry.
Prasad said the government will further try to address the industry’s issues by looking at a framework for setting up a dispute resolution mechanism.