Digital will play a large role in the Indian economy in the next 25 years, said Shri Rajeev Chandrashekhar, Minister of State for Electronics & IT, and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship while addressing the Plenary on “Digital- A boost to Indian Economy” on the second day of CII Annual Meeting 2021. He stated that the honourable Prime Minister is deeply invested in the power of technology to transform governance by bridging the gap between Government and the citizens and various departments and panchayats to overcome the limitation of conventional modes of working in silos.
Shri Chandrasekhar elaborated on the role of technology which has disintermediated financial sector in last several years by completely transforming them and the huge impact of UPI. Districts who have never had any contact with the Government in months could get direct financial transfer in the accounts during the pandemic. Government has a target of connecting all Indians through internet by 2025 mostly through broadband of Bharat Net, simplifying cyber law for ease of doing business and focusing on high tech like Quantum Computing and Artificial intelligence.
Trust and competitiveness are the new normal for any supply chain of technology companies for servicing clients. He urged CII to increase risk appetite to utilise this opportunity. He envisaged 500-600 companies having more than 5000 crore turnover in the next three to five years from only 25 such companies as on today. He urged the private sector to drive innovation.
Unlike many countries, data privacy is a fundamental right in India. Government is bringing Data Protection Bill, which is with the Parliamentary Standing Committee now, informed Shri Chandrashekhar.
At the Ministry of Electronics & IT, they have a vision of delivering high skill resources to the whole world taking advantage of India’s demographic dividend, Shri Chandrashekhar mentioned. The target is to step up training to 25 lakh individuals from 10 lakh today.
Speaking on the massive outreach of Digitization, Mr Kris Gopalakrishnan, Past President, CII and Co-Founder, Infosys Limited & Chairman, Axilor Ventures Pvt Ltd stated that every nook and corner of industry has been transformed with Digitization at its core. According to him, Digital Infrastructure, Governance & Services on Demand and Digital Empowerment of Citizens are the cornerstones of Digital India initiative as envisioned by Hon'ble Prime Minister. From adoption of 5G, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain and Robotics - the new trends in digitization are pivotal in shaping new trends in innovation.
Mr Kiran Karnik Chairman, CII National Committee on eCommerce and Former President, NASSCOM remarked "We are well on the path of using newer technologies be it IOT, or Artificial Intelligence, be it in manufacturing or preventive maintenance or for increasing the efficiency of services in host areas ". He expressed his area of interest regarding leveraging of technology to bridge regions and all strata of society, for achievement of Government focus on social equity. He firmly believes that modern day software with simplified frontends and complex backends have tremendous potential in terms of servicing the citizens in their day-to-day activities. He congratulated the Government on pathbreaking execution of Micro-Credit facility for Street Vendors through PM Svanidhi scheme. "The idea of Combination of Bulk Order and Subsidy to bring down cost can be used for bringing down the cost of smart phones, as an element of subsidy ", Mr Karnik recommended. Mr Karnik advocated for the identification of the major areas in Digitization for Government and Industry to work in tandem for creating R&D culture in tech development.
12 August 2021