National Policy on Information Technology, 2012 (NPIT 2012) India
PREAMBLE Information Technology is a key driver of an increasingly knowledge base global economy.
PART -1A knowledge based economy is now a sine qua non for leadership. Given its current global position in the IT and ITES sector, India is well positioned to enhance and leverage its IT capabilities towards this end. Technology has transformational power. It is a great leveler of opportunity within and across economies. Recognizing this potential of IT, several economies in the Asia-Pacific region have invested in infrastructure and adopted proactive policies to foster adoption of IT pervasively. Consequently their economies have experienced much faster and more equitable growth and their development indices have moved up rapidly. India aspires to become a knowledge economy with a global role.
The Indian economy has achieved a growth rate of around 8 % over the last decade, and the contribution of IT Sector to this growth is significant. The Indian IT industry is a USD 100 Billion industry (2011-12) with 80% of the revenues coming from exports. The Indian IT & ITES sector employs over 2.8 million skilled people.
The IT sector has been one of the major employment generators in the last two decades. The global IT-ITES market has been growing. Current negative trends in many economies around the globe provide both challenges and new opportunities. New competitors emerge, often unpredicted. This flux in the global economy highlights the need for constant reappraisal of strategy and the imperative of identifying new markets and new services and seeking ways to leverage and extend the reach of domestic non-IT services like engineering, health, education, skill development, security, legal, financial, accounting, transport & logistics etc. There is room for growth but no room for complacency. A conducive policy environment and a concerted strategy is needed for the country to remain a global player on a long term basis. While IT export growth is satisfactory despite global recession in the last few years, the impact of IT within the country is uneven. Despite relatively sluggish growth of the domestic market and low levels of ICT usage and penetration in the past, today there are very encouraging signs of accelerating recourse to ICTs in most sectors of the economy and society. There are many drivers propelling this change. Global competition, pressure to cut costs and improve
efficiency, need to address IT-savvy global and domestic markets and compulsion to provide client-centric services to a large number of customers are some of the factors responsible. However, the bulk of Indian IT exports is still targeted towards North America and Europe. Besides, major IT hubs like Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune and NCR which account for nearly 90% of the total Industry in India are near saturated and face infrastructural challenges and human resource constraints for further expansion. This necessitates the absolute imperative for Indian IT and ITES Industry to diversify into Tier II and Tier III cities. Emerging technologies such as Mobile Technology, Localization, Virtualization, and Cloud Computing provide Indian IT / ITES industry a major opportunity to become partners in value creation and drive transformation domestically. India today stands at the cusp of development. The Indian workforce is young - with 50% of the population below 25 years. The younger generation is also quick to adopt new technologies. This factor is one of our core competitive strengths. Relying on this advantage, enhanced use of ICT (Information & Communication Technologies) can help usher in sustained growth of the Indian economy. ICT is known to have transformed businesses and created new products and markets and improved the productivity and efficiency in other sectors. Sectors like Finance, Retail, Courier, Media are just a few examples in this context. For India to retain its competitive edge in sectors in which it is traditionally strong like textiles as also in emerging sectors, it is imperative that ICTs are appropriately adopted. Similarly, the importance of ICTs in strategic sectors like Defence, Atomic Energy, Space etc is paramount. The National Policy on IT focuses on application of technology-enabled approaches to overcome monumental developmental challenges in education, health, skill development, financial inclusion, employment generation, governance etc. to greatly enhance efficiency across the board in the economy. The policy seeks to achieve the twin goals of bringing the full power of ICT within the reach of the whole of India and harnessing the capability and human resources of the whole of India to enable India to emerge as the Global Hub and Destination for IT and ITES Services by 2020.The focus of the IT policy is therefore on deployment of ICT in all sectors of the economy and on providing IT solutions to the world. The Policy aims at attaining these objectives through coordinated action on the part of both the Central and State governments.
Emerging technology trends will make it possible for millions of citizens to access services electronically in self-service mode using mobile phones and the Internet or through assisted service points such as Common Services Centers etc. This goal is made possible through ubiquitous network connectivity based on mobile technology, broadband Internet, fiber penetration to all villages, high-technology and low-cost affordable devices and software solutions which enable electronic access to services including e-payments. A unique AADHAAR based electronic authentication framework would be an integral part of systems providing services to the people. Cloud computing will significantly speed up design and roll out of services, enable social networking and participative governance and eCommerce on a scale which was just not possible with traditional technology solutions. Adoption of IT by civil society is also increasing by leaps and bounds. Rising use of social media presents a unique opportunity to reach a large percentage of the population in ways that were not possible earlier. Used appropriately, they could substantially enhance the democratic and governance fabric of the country. In keeping with these trends, Governments at all levels in the country are aggressively adopting e-Governance to improve accessibility, transparency and efficiency. Social Media could also be utilised to facilitate peer-to-peer interaction and thereby promote horizontal communication to foster the growth of a connected society. There is a strong synergy between IT adoption and the growth of Broadband Infrastructure. Mobile telephony is now well spread out all over the country due to a combination of factors – including low cost devices and low tariff. Over 850 million subscribers can benefit from Mobile Internet with a supportive development environment with low cost smartphones/ handheld devices, competitive tariffs and provision of value added services at affordable prices. Policy-driven convergence of ICT based business models and service capabilities with the rapidly evolving Telecom infrastructure has the potential to create an environment which will foster the growth of citizen-services and business models to bring about transformational change in governance and markets. The National Policy on IT aims to maximally leverage the power of ICT to help address monumental economic and developmental challenges the country faces. It is rooted in the conviction that ICT has the power to transform India and improve the lives of all Indians.
Continued to PART-2
