Draft Strategy Plan DIT 310810

8/8/2019 Draft Strategy Plan DIT 310810

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Strategic Plan

of

Department of Information

Technology

for

the next five years


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Contents

Sl. No. Chapter Page No.

1. Vision, Mission, Objectives & Functions 1-2

2. E-Government 3-14

3. E-Industry 15-24

4. E-Innovation/R&D 25-28

5. E-Learning 29-37

6. E-Security 38-45

7. E-Inclusion 46-67


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DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Vision

e-Development of India as the engine for transition into a developed nation and anempowered society.

Mission

e-Development of India through multi pronged strategy of e-Infrastructurecreation to facilitate and promote e-governance, promotion of Electronics &Information Technology- Information Technology Enabled Services (IT-ITeS)Industry, promotion of e-inclusion, providing support for creation of Innovation /Research & Development (R&D), building Knowledge network and securing

Indias cyber space.

Objectives

e-Government: Providing e-infrastructure for delivery of e-services

e-Industry: Promotion of electronics hardware manufacturing and IT-ITeS

industry

e-Innovation / R & D: Providing Support for creation of Innovation

Infrastructure in emerging areas of technology

e-Learning: Providing support for development of e-Skills and Knowledge

network

e-Security: Securing Indias cyber space.

e-Inclusion: Promoting the use of ICT for more inclusive growth.

Functions (Allocation of Business Rules)

Policy matters relating to Information Technology, Electronics and Internet.

Initiatives for development of Hardware / Software industry including

knowledge based enterprises, measures for promoting IT exports and

competitiveness of the industry.

Promotion of IT and IT enabled services and Internet.

Assistance to other departments in the promotion of E-Governance, E-

Infrastructure, E-Medicine, ECommerce, etc.


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Promotion of Information Technology education and Information Technology-

based education.

Matters relating to Cyber Laws, administration of the Information Technology

Act. 2000 (21 of 2000) and other IT related laws.

Matters relating to promotion and manufacturing of Semiconductor Devices in

the country.

Interaction in IT related matters with International agencies and bodies.

Initiative on bridging the Digital Divide, Matters relating to Media Lab Asia.

Promotion of Standardization, Testing and Quality in IT and standardization of

procedure for IT application and Tasks.

Electronics Export and Computer Software Promotion Council (ESC).

National Informatics Centre (NIC)

All matters relating to personnel under the control of the Department.


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E-Government

Background

The Government of India launched the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) in May,

2006, with the vision to make all government services access to the common man in hislocality through common service delivery outlets and to ensure efficiency, transparencyand reliability of such services at affordable costs to realize the basic needs of thecommon man. Under NeGP, 27 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) and 8 SupportComponents have been identified that cover activities related to the individual LineMinistries / Departments under the Central and State Governments.

While NeGP is in to fifth year of its implementation, the Department of InformationTechnology (DIT), under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology,Government of India, is in the process of developing its strategic plan for the next fiveyears. Accordingly, six core areas viz e-Government, e-Inclusion, e-Security, e-Learning,e-Innovation and e-Industry have been identified which would together constitute theoverall strategic plan of DIT for the next five years. Furthermore, six Working Groupscorresponding to each core area have also been constituted for developing the individualstrategic documents.

The present document provides a strategic plan encompassing the e-Government corearea. The Working Group on e-Government, during its various meetings, discussed theaspirations for the core area in light of the overall aspiration of DIT for the next fiveyears. The Working Group analyzed the Results Framework Document (RFD) (preparedearlier by DIT and approved by Cabinet Secretariat) and studied the following eight

action items defined in the RFD:

a) Setting up of State Wide Area Networksb) Setting up of State Data Centresc) Setting up of additional Common Services Centresd) Appraisal of Mission Mode Projectse) Implementation of Capacity Building Schemef) Strengthening of SeMTsg) Provide High speed & Secured e-Governance Networkh) Design, develop and implementation of E-Gov applications

The eight action items as described above were then clubbed into four broader areasunder which the Working Group proposed to prepare its strategy document. These fourareas are:

a) e-Governance, Infrastructure, Network Services and Securityb) Emerging Technologiesc) Human Resource infrastructure for e-Governanced) Accelerating delivery of services through development of e-Gov applications

and identifying enablers for e-Governance

The Working Group also identified the following goals for DIT under e-Government corearea:

a) Identify the Non-technology related areas where DIT can interveneb) Define the enablers for e-Governance


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c) Conceptualize NeGP 2.0 and define outcome based targetsd) Analyze the mandate of Bharat Nirman and find the specific things that

can be derived back into the strategic plan of DITe) Analyze the technologys use for archivalf) Define security in terms of the trust and confidence of the people in e-

Governance

g) Define the number of touch points that the citizen should have with theGovernment and concurrently define the number of services that will beaccessible to the citizen through these touch points

h) Identify the mechanism to encourage the participation of Indian IT industryinto e-Governance. The three areas to be studied are:

Technology Development

Supporting government into building government services

Encourage industry into service delivery domaini) Define a methodology to make citizen access points more ubiquitous

j) Explore the use of next level of technology i.e. using technology as a serviceThe strategy plan under e-Government has been developed keeping in mind the fourareas identified by the Working Group and aligning them to the identified goalsmentioned above.

Vision & Purpose

The following vision and purpose have been identified as part of the strategy for e-Government:

Vision

Inclusive development of India through creation of shared and affordable e-serviceInfrastructure and to facilitate and promote good governance by delivering citizen centricservices electronically in order to transform India into a developed nation and anempowered knowledge society by 2020.

Purpose

To leverage Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in all aspects ofgovernance including its internal business processes, external interfaces with the citizensand the businesses for delivery of government services

Suggested Vision Statement

Inclusive development of India through facilitation and promotion of good governance bydelivering citizen centric services electronically through shared and affordable e-servicesinfrastructure, in order to transform India into an empowered knowledge society by 2020.

Long Term Outcome Goals and Results

DIT has made significant progress in terms of achieving its intended goals and outcomes.Out of 27 MMPs, all but 4 have already been approved and are under implementation.The core e-Governance infrastructure schemes viz State Wide Area Network (SWAN),State Data Center (SDC) and Common Services Centre (CSC) have reached advanced


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stages of implementation. A large number of pilot initiatives have been taken by DIT andother departments in Central/State Governments in order to prove the efficacy of theusage of ICT in Government. The Information Technology Act 2000 has been suitablyamended to facilitate appropriate business model for implementing e-Governance.Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has been created in order to provide aUnique Identification (UID) number to every resident of the country. The Capacity

Building Scheme was approved that helped setting up State e-Mission Teams (SeMTs)across all 35 states and UTs in the country.The progress made so far has set a platform for DIT to define its goals and outcomes forthe next five years. These goals and outcomes have been categorized into four broadcategories as follows:

E-Governance, Infrastructure, Network Services and Security

a) Increasing access to citizen services through a minimum of 100 Mbpsbroadband access upto panchayat level : The current broadband penetration inthe country is only 0.74% as compared to a teledensity of 52.74%. There is

therefore a need to facilitate the growth of broadband network access at the grassroot (panchayat) level. The challenge in covering the entire population of over800 million in India above the age of 12 years with broadband access is the lowavailability of broadband services coupled with high cost of broadband.Therefore, DIT intends to initiate necessary steps over the next five years to bringdown the cost of broadband access as well as ensure a connectivity of 100 Mbpsupto the panchayat level.

b) Developing integrated, shared, affordable, standardized and secureinfrastructure: The first phase of NeGP was characterized by focus on creationof a hardware platform, e-enablement of government processes through MMPs

and creation of front end delivery outlets. Today the technology makes it possibleto create software platforms which will allow each department to focus primarilyon e-enablement of its own business processes and plug in the necessary softwareplatforms for delivering services to the public. This approach has the possibilityof radically speeding up the e-Governance program besides being more costeffective and stable. Thus, as part of its ongoing mission of creating e-Infrastructure, DIT intends to create an integrated, shared, affordable,standardized and secure infrastructure for the country which can be utilized byvarious line departments/ministries at Central/State level for delivery of theirrespective citizen services through electronic means.

c) Mechanism for serving requirements of various departments through theusage of core common service delivery infrastructure: As part of the existingNeGP, DIT has to establish core common infrastructure in terms of SWANs,SDCs and CSCs across all states/UTs in the country. As more and moredepartments adopt this core common infrastructure and start integrating theirservice delivery mechanism with the common infrastructure, there will be a needto create a mechanism where the service requirements of all the departments aremet expeditiously so that the advantages of shared costs and reducedredundancies are maintained in the long run. DIT intends to facilitate this processfor creation of a suitable mechanism for this purpose.

d) Upscaling and integrating front-end service delivery channels: There is aneed to upscale the existing service delivery channels so that they providesufficient number of touch points to the citizen for accessing public services. The


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Government has decided to reposition the Common Services Centres as BharatNirman Common Services Centres for delivery of public services to citizens inrural areas. Accordingly the 100,000 CSCs are being scaled up to 250,000CSCs so as to have one CSC in each of the Gram Panchayats in the country. DITintends to initiate similar initiatives so that multiple frond-end service deliverychannels are available for the delivery of all public services at the citizens door

steps.

e) Policy for mandating delivery of public services through electronic means:The Information Technology Act 2000 and amendments thereof provide legalrecognition to all electronic transactions, documents, data messages and electronicsignatures contained therein. Concurrently, with the development of e-infrastructure, a lot of e-Governance systems implemented by Governmentdepartments like Railways, Income Tax, MCA21 etc. have also proved to behugely successful. However, a need to provide a legislative push to speed up theprocess of adoption of electronic means for delivery of public services has beenfelt. DIT therefore is of the view that the universal application of eGovernance

principles can be brought about by mandating through a law the delivery of allpublic services through electronic means.

f) Promote development and delivery of content and services in local languages:With the low levels of English and Computer literacy in the country, there is agreat need to develop content in the local languages. DIT intends to focus in itsinitiatives in the next five years on language enablement of the content,development of application platforms that will support the local language contentas also the development of a content policy to ensure uniform adoption of thisconcept across the whole government functionary.

g) Enabling appropriate security policies and privacy laws for service deliveryplatforms: As more and more information is becoming available online, thereare twin concerns of cyber security of the systems and data and of privacy ofpersonal information. Therefore, there is a need to develop appropriate securitypolicies on the one hand and to develop and enforce suitable privacy laws on theother hand. There is also a need to develop uniform standards that will ensure thatall government projects follow a well-defined checklist for ensuring security ofinformation as well as verification/validation of access. DIT would facilitatecreation of appropriate standards, to be developed/customized and adoptedacross all government systems that would ensure seamless access of publicservices to the citizen in the most secure and trusted manner.

Emerging Technologies

a) Leverage and adopt new and emerging technologies for service delivery:DIT, as an institution, is a facilitator of Information and Communication Toolsand Technologies across various ministries/departments both at central and statelevel. As new technologies emerge across the world, they are required to be testedfor their applicability and usage within the e-Governance arena. Therefore DITintends to incubate the new and emerging technologies across the world and toassess/test their efficacy in various e-Governance projects. The mechanism thusdeveloped should ensure the inclusion of both open source and proprietary

technologies so as to propel competition as well as provide a cost advantage.


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b) Identifying and positioning green technologies suitable in Indian context: Atypical challenge in scaling up of e-Governance projects in India and otherdeveloping countries is the poor power situation in most parts of the country.Therefore, there is a need to promote green technologies which can be useful inareas with low availability of power sources. Similarly, there is also a need toleverage technologies like Cloud Computing that can help share the common

infrastructure, decrease the capital expenditure and expedite the service deliverytimeline.

c) Adopt emerging technologies for better decision support systems forgovernment: While different government departments are implementing theirprojects, the government machinery at the highest level often needs to make somestrategic decisions based on the information residing within different sets ofgovernment databases. Therefore, there is a need to adopt emerging technologiesthat can help build decision support systems for the government.

Human Resource Infrastructure for e-Governance

Human Resource Infrastructure is one of the most important components for theconceptualization, execution and success of any e-Governance initiative. Thisencompasses capacity building at all levels, from the highest political and bureaucraticlevels to citizens and external users of e-Government services. As part of the existingNational e-Governance Plan, DIT is implementing a Capacity Building (CB) Scheme toset up State e-Mission Teams (SeMTs) across all 35 states and UTs in the country. TheseSeMTs are functioning as the primary support arm for the State IT Departments as wellas other user departments for efficient planning, execution and project management oftheir e-Gov initiatives. As part of this CB Scheme, DIT is also providing e-Gov relatedtrainings to the government authorities at all levels. As part of its strategy for the next

five years, DIT plans to achieve the following:

a) Formalizing a comprehensive Capacity Building Scheme with a focus onChange Management and Business Process Re-engineering: The duration ofthe CB Scheme, being executed by DIT, is only 3 years. However, there is a needfor trained manpower both at central and state level not only during projectconceptualization and implementation but also during project operation,monitoring and further enhancements. Therefore, there is a need to develop acomprehensive and longer lasting capacity building scheme that can not onlyprovide trained manpower to central/state departments but can also help manage

the manpower on an ongoing basis. The CB scheme thus developed should alsoprovide specific focus on Change Management and Business Process Re-engineering. BPR will necessitate the analysis and redesigning of the workflowwithin a department in order to achieve objectives of improved measures ofperformance, such as cost, quality, service and speed. Similarly, ChangeManagement will ensure that the necessary procedural/administrative changessmoothly propagate throughout a department and all employees are properlyeducated via trainings programmes about the new ways of functioning and servicedelivery.

b) Creating a Framework for the Line Ministries / Departments in CentralGovernment for positioning dedicated teams and team leaders: NeGP, as apolicy, is being executed under a Centralized Planning and Decentralized


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Implementation approach. Therefore, irrespective of whether a project is a

Central MMP, State MMP or an Integrated MMP, the respective central lineministry plays an extremely important role as far as the project conceptualizationand program/project management of the MMP is concerned. However, majorityof the central line ministries lack the technical knowhow of executing an e-Governance programme. Due to this reason, they often end up implementing

systems which are not generally the best suited for a given project. Therefore,there is a need to establish dedicated project teams across various central lineministries which can help the line ministries in better planning and execution oftheir e-Gov programs. Since DIT has already established such a team in the forma National e-Governance Division (NeGD) within a section 25 company calledMedia Lab Asia, DIT can utilize the existing NeGD for the purpose ofpositioning dedicated teams and team leaders across all central line ministries.

c) Designing an Educational Programme to promote computer literacy as wellas distribution of basic software programs to students across villages/towns: In order to promote computer literacy, DIT intends to create an educational

programme as part of which DIT can partner with various academic institutions toformulate courses for computer literacy and make them a part of the schooleducation curriculum. Further, DIT can also get some software programs likebasic accounting softwares, mathematical games etc. developed and distributed inall schools which can help build the interest of students in computer education.This will also help in creating a pool of computer literate talent in the country.

d) Facilitating training programmes for computer awareness in governmentministries/departments: The Government of India wishes to achieve a paperlessoffice in the coming years. To achieve this objective, there is a need for anabsolute computer awareness across all levels in the government. DIT therefore

intends to partner with certain institutions like DOEACC, STPI etc. who candevelop and deliver training programmes on computer awareness to the existinggovernment staff. At the same time, DIT also intends to propose suitable changesin the government recruitment process such that computer awareness becomes amandatory requirement for all new government recruitments.

Accelerating delivery of services through development of e-Gov applications and

identifying enablers for e-Governance

a) Policy framework for ensuring e-Governance and IT enablement in allGovernment projects: e-Governance cannot be disjoint from the governance

processes within the departments. For this reason and considering the federalcharacter of the country, the egovernance projects are being implemented by theconcerned line ministries where DIT provides the requisite technical advice toensure adherence to standards. In order to ensure that e-Governance principles areapplied in any project from the very beginning, DIT intends to work with thePlanning Commission to ensure that projects are approved only when e-Governance is the underlying principle from inception in such projects. Theguidelines for keeping apart a percentage of the plan budget for eGovernanceprogrammes should also be reinforced and made mandatory.

b) Creation of a transparent and simple mechanism for engaging privatepartners for eGovernace projects: Contracting and tendering complexities areone of the main reasons for delays in the implementation of the eGovernance


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projects. While tendering mechanism and contract conditions have stabilized inother Infrastructure procurements, there is no standardization in terms of theeligibility conditions, the bidding conditions and the contract clauses in the e-Governance projects. The time and effort required from the private sector side ineach tender process also increases significantly due to non standardization oftender process and contract clauses. DIT shall therefore endeavor to engage with

the private sector and the industry associations to develop suitable bidding modelsand contract documents to ensure simplicity, transparency and speed of the e-Governance related procurement processes.

c) Creating framework for adoption of PPP as well as Outsourcing model inimplementation and operation of e-governance programmes: WhileGovernment is building its competencies in ICT related areas, the private sectorhas already made significant progress in not just promotion but adoption of latesttechnologies and service delivery mechanisms. Therefore, there is a need to putlarge emphasis on Public Private Partnerships (PPP) over the next few years.Further, the Government needs to identify the areas that can be best executed by

the private sector while keeping the strategic control within the government.Therefore, there is a need to formulate an outsourcing model that can define thekind of projects as well as the kind of areas which can be outsourced to privatevendors. While these initiatives will complement the accountability ofGovernment with the efficiency of the private sector, at the same time, they willalso ensure a fast paced project implementation as well as availability of bothhuman and financial resources both over a longer period and over a largergeography.

d) Developing a model for Administrative Interoperability within theGovernemnt: While different government departments are executing their own e-

governance projects, quite often the parameters as well as methods of informationcapture widely vary across different projects. This ultimately creates a problem atthe time of collation of these projects when some strategic decisions have to bemade based on information available in different departments. Therefore, there isa need to build a model for administrative interoperability of different governmentdepartments so that the meta data standards for capturing the commoninformation are developed and utilized by all government functionaries.

e) Enabling environment for better engagement of citizens for e-governanceproject conceptualization: One of the biggest success factors for e-Governmentis the social and financial inclusion of the citizen. There is therefore a need toinvolve citizen while planning and prioritizing the government services. Citizen

feedback needs to be taken both during the project conceptualization as well asduring project execution. The services and service levels have to be defined basedon citizen expectations and a very well defined grievance registration andredressal mechanism has to be evolved. DIT therefore intends to create theenabling environment in the form of standard procedures for projectconceptualization and implementation that will facilitate government citizeninteraction and will ensure a higher social inclusion of the citizen.

f) Creating appropriate implementation model for using ICT in financialinclusion: Government is currently running a number of benefit schemes likeNREGA which provide direct financial benefits to the citizen.However, there is a

need to reduce leakages and ensure that all government benefits reach theirintended beneficiaries. This can be achieved only through an extensive financial


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inclusion program that utilizes technology and the common infrastructure to takethe benefits of the traditional financial systems to the unreached population of thecountry. DIT has played an important role, as part of an Inter-Ministerial Group,in developing an enabling framework for the delivery of basic financial servicesusing mobile phones. There is now a need to develop appropriate implementationmodels that will utilize the common infrastructure like CSCs and will help

provide basic banking services to the citizen in villages and other such areas. Afinancially inclusive society will also be more conducive towards adopting newerways of accessing public services and will be more participative in the citizenfeedback processes.

g) Policy for Electronic Document Exchange between Government and Citizen:While development of e-Gov applications will be one end of the electronic servicedelivery, promoting computer literacy and establishing citizen access points willbe the other end. However, there is a need to connect these two ends bydeveloping suitable mechanisms for electronic exchange of documents betweenthe government and the citizen. Today, even though a number of government

services are becoming online, however, there is a still a great reliance overphysical documents that need to submitted by the citizen or accessed by thegovernment in order to access/provide a public service. Therefore, an enablingframework needs to be created that will promote exchange of all such documentselectronically. There is also a need to develop appropriate payment gateways thatwill ensure that the citizen has a seamless mechanism of service access.

h) Formalizing an Awareness and Communication mechanism for spreadingawareness about e-services to the citizen: While the Government progresses onits path of e-enablement of public services and developing newer ways of publicservice delivery, there is a need for spreading the awareness about the e-services

as well as the service access mechanisms among the citizen. While DIT is alreadyexecuting an awareness and communication programme under NeGP, however,there is a need to develop a more formal mechanism that can be adopted byGovernment in general in spreading awareness about the e-Gov related servicesamong the citizen.

i) Policy for Assessment of e-Gov initiatives: The success of any e-Governanceprogramme can be measured only through an assessment of its outcomes at theground level. Therefore, DIT intends to formulate a policy for Assessment of alle-Governance initiatives which can provide a mechanism for all central/stategovenrments to assess the impact of the initiatives on the citizen and otherstakeholders in the country. This assessment should also identify the reasons for

any delays in project implementation (for eg: long procurement processes,instability of nodal officers etc.) and recommend solutions that can beincorporated in all government projects.


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SWOT Analysis

An analysis of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats with regard to thelong term outcome goals and results, as defined in the previous section, is as follows:

Strengths Weaknesses

Over 4 years of e-Governance projectimplementation and programmanagement experience of DIT willhelp in making an informed strategyplan

A conducive environment forimplementation of e-Gov applicationshas built around the Government andmost Central/State Governments arenow willing to take e-Governance

initiatives.The outreach of some of thetechnologies like mobile telephony hasincreased manifold. This will assist inutilizing these technologies as alternatechannels for public service delivery.

DIT has established a National e-Governance Division (NeGD) that isassisting DIT in the overall programmemanagement of NeGP. DIT has alsoestablished several SeMTs across

various states/UTs. This institutionalstructure is already assisting the StateIT Departments in planning, executionand project management of their e-Govprogarmmes.

A number of projects like CSCs havebeen implemented using PPP approach.This has showcased the efficacy of PPPin e-Governance arena. The capabilitiesof the private sector are much betterunderstood today than ever before.

Low levels of computer/Englishliteracy coupled with low availabilityof local language content are the majorhindrances towards adoption of e-Governance service deliverymechanisms.

Majority of Central and StateMinistries/Departments do not havethe required manpower for executinge-Governance projects and hence they

are primarily dependent upon externalconsultants.

Majority of the funds placed at thedisposal of Central/State Governmentsare either unutilized or being spent ondepartmental infrastructure. There is aneed for proper planning andutilization of these project funds.

The transition from the manual modeof service delivery to electronic moderequires backend process

computerization which inturn requiresa mindset change within theGovernment. This change can takeplace only through awareness trainingswhich are non-existent right now.

The level of government citizeninteraction is low and there is a needto develop citizen feedbackmechanisms both during projectconceptualization and projectoperation stages of the project.

Low levels of broadband penetrationare impacting the outreach of e-Governance applications to onlylimited number of households

Opportunities Threats

The overall sphere of e-Governance isexpanding at a fast pace and anincreasing number of private sectorplayers are showing interest inpartnering with the Government. This

will propel competition and will bringthe necessary competencies to the

The access cost for the broadband andother network access services need tocome down. Without these the internetpenetration levels may not increaseand hence the real benefits of e-

Governance will be difficult to realize.In order to define a uniform policy on


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Government.

The cost of hardware is continuouslydecreasing. This will promote thegrowth of ICT at the grass root level.This growth can then be leveraged bythe Government in providing publicservices to the citizen.

A model for financial inclusion of therural poor using mobile technology hasalready been approved by theGovernment. This model can now beimplemented in order to take thebanking and other government servicesto the citizens door step.

DIT has already established institutionslike CERT-In (Indian Computer

Emergency Response Team) which arefocusing entirely upon securitystandards. Such organizations can beleveraged by DIT to come up with amore firm security policy to ensure thesecurity of data and information acrossvarious e-gov projects.

Several of the state governments havestarted putting aside 2-3% of theirannual budgets for IT related activities.Therefore, this money can be directly

utilized for promoting the developingof e-Gov applications.

A number of private sector players arenow offering green solutions in the e-Governance space. It will assist DIT informulating a strategy for utilization ofgreen systems in various e-Gov projectsin order to deal with poor powersituation as well as to reduce projectcost.

any matter (for eg: utilization ofcommon core infrastructure), aconsensus from a number ofministries/departments is required. Inthe absence of such a consensus, thepolicy may either not get formulatedor may not get implemented.

With the increased media coverageand multiple channels for awarenessbuilding, the expectations of citizensfrom the Government are very high.Consequently, any delay in projectimplementation and service deliverywill have negative impact over theservice acceptability among thecitizens. Aspiration management for

citizens is always a challenge in e-governance scenario.

With the development of more andmore e-Gov applications, a lot ofgovernment information will beresiding on IT systems. Thereforethere will be a strong threat of hackingand other such cybercrimes over theconfidential information.

Computer and English Literacy hasstill not picked up as part of school

education curriculum in India, more soat the village level. Without thecomputer literacy, the rural citizen willalways be dependent upon a facilitatorfor accessing public services.

Proposed Prioritized Solutions & Policy Options

Although a complete set of solutions to achieve the long term outcome goals can beformulated only through a comprehensive consultative process, a few solutions areproposed in the following areas:

E-Governance, Infrastructure, Network Services and Security

a) Signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with variousMinistries/Departments for serving their requirements through core

common infrastructure: DIT intends to sign MoUs with various lineministries/departments to serve their infrastructural requirements through the


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usage of the core common infrastructure (SWAN, CSC, SDC etc.) in the projectsimplemented by these ministries/departments. This MoU will ensure that allcurrent and future projects will plan to utilize the core common infrastructure andwill provide their additional requirements to DIT so that DIT can upscale theexisting infrastructure to match the requirements of these lineminsitries/departments.

b) Formalizing Electronic Service Delivery Framework and Related Activities:DIT intends to propose and formalize an Electronic Service Delivery Frameworkthat will mandate the delivery of all public services by all Governmentdepartments via electronic means.

Human Resource Infrastructure for e-Governance

a) Creating a Framework for positioning dedicated project teams in the LineMinistries / Departments: DIT intends to upscale and utilize the services ofNational e-Governance Division (NeGD) to assist various central/stateministries/departments in setting up their e-Governance teams so as to better planand execute their e-Governance initiatives. NeGD will assist in not onlypositioning of these dedicated teams but will also manage them on an ongoingbasis

b) Developing a program for promotion of computer literacy and distribution ofsimple software programs in the schools across villages/towns: DIT willpartner with academic institutions to include computer education as a mandatorysubject in the school education. Further, DIT will partner with some institutionswho can provide free software programs like mathematical games, basic accountsoftwares etc. which can be distributed in the schools across various

villages/towns to promote computer literacy as well as build the overall computerliterate talent pool.

c) Facilitating training programmes for computer awareness in governmentministries/departments: DIT will partner will appropriate institutions in order tofacilitate various training programmes on computer awareness for the existinggovernment staff. DIT will further hold discussions will Ministry of Personnel,Public Grievances and Pensions to develop a mechanism so as to make computerawareness a mandatory requirement in all new government recruitments.

Accelerating delivery of services through development of e-Gov applications and

identifying enablers for e-Governance

a) Developing a mechanism for IT enablement of all Government projects: DITwill work with Planning Commission to ensure IT enablement of all governmentprojects by making it mandatory for projects to have e-Governance as theirunderlying principle right from the inception stage.

b) Developing a uniform policy for PPP: DIT will formulate a uniform policy foradoption of PPP for various categories of e-Governance projects. DIT will workwith various private sector institutions to develop the various kinds of PPP modelsand define their applicability for the different e-Governance projects.

c) Creation of a dedicated citizen portal for Government Citizen Interaction:DIT will create a dedicated citizen portal which can be visited by any citizen in


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the country in order to provide its feedback/comments/new ideas to DIT forvarious improvements/new projects that DIT should undertake. All thisfeedback/suggestions thus received will be routed to the appropriate officerswithin DIT for a timely response to the citizen as well to take further necessaryaction.

Implementation Roadmap

An indicative implementation roadmap to achieve various goals identified by DIT as partof its strategy plan is as follows:

Timeline Action Items

Year 1 Discussion with various stakeholders and constitution of differentteams to conceptualize in detail the various outcome goals identifiedby DIT

Taking necessary approvals on various policy initiatives from theappropriate authorities

Year 2 Implementation of policy initiatives at a limited scale at both centraland state level

Year 3 Refinement of policy initiatives as per the learnings from the pilotprojects

Roll-out of policy initiatives across the Government functionaryYear 4 Program Management of policy initiatives to ensure their execution

within the stipulated time

Year 5 Ensuring completion of policy initiatives across all levels within theGovernment

Formulation of strategic plan for the next five years


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e-Industry

Background:

The Information, Communication Technology and Electronics (ICTE) is the worldslargest and fastest growing industry. Given that ICTE is pervasive and permeates acrosssectors of the economy, it has been increasingly finding applications in all sectors of theeconomy. The e-Industry per se may be classified in two sectors namely ElectronicsHardware Manufacturing Sector and Software & Services Sector.

Electronics Hardware Manufacturing Sector

Global Electronics Hardware manufacturing, currently reported at US $ 1750 billion, isthe largest and fastest growing manufacturing Industry in the world. It is expected toreach US $ 2000 billion by 2014 and US $ 2400 billion by 2020. Indian electronics

hardware production has increased from Rs.43, 800 crore in 2003-04 to Rs.97, 260 crorein 2008-09, with a cumulative annual growth rate of 16.6%. However, the growth during2008-09 has declined to 15.2% from 27.8% in 2007-08, which is attributed to the globaleconomic slowdown. During 2008-09, the demand in the Indian market stood at US $ 45billion, whereas the production was around US $ 20 billion. Electronics Hardwareexports is estimated to be US $ 4 billion in 2008-09, up from US $ 3.3 billion in 2007-08,representing a growth of 21.2%. The production growth during 2009-10 further declinedto 13.0%. Indian electronics hardware production constituted around 1.31% of globalelectronics production and around 1.86% of Indias GDP.

Given that, the Government has also identified growth of electronics hardware

manufacturing sector as a thrust area. In the past Government has taken several steps forgrowth of this sector which include Special Incentives Package Scheme (SIPS) for Fabsand other High Tech Electronic Products, Infrastructure Support, incentives for Research& Development, fiscal incentives and special attention and priorities to Electronics/IThardware manufacturing. Despite a number of measures taken by the Government, thissector faces a variety of challenges like duty distortions due to implementation of ITA-1of the WTO, Free Trade Agreements (FTA)/Preferential Trading Agreements (PTA) witha number of countries, wherein import of electronics hardware from these countries shallbe at a preferential rate of duty, which is lower than the normal tariff rate, disability costslike high level of taxation; high cost of power, finance & freight; inadequateinfrastructure; high transaction cost, etc.

In India, there is a strong need to develop the electronics hardware manufacturing whichwill not only contribute to employment generation but also help in meeting a substantialportion of domestic demand across all sectors including process manufacturing andassembly. In this era of competitive knowledge economy and inclusive informationsociety, the intensive adoption of ICTE as the optimal base for sustainable social welfareand economic growth is becoming a top priority in every public policy and corporateagenda. Given that every emerging economy needs to clearly define the roadmap forICTE adoption in order to derive the socio-economic benefits of this increasinglyimportant sector. ICTE infrastructure, its applications in education, health and delivery of

public services have to be accorded the highest priority by the Government towardsachieving the goal of an inclusive knowledge based society. Focus on incentivizing


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innovation and research is a vital component of this strategy. An important lessonemerging from Chinas experience is that countries of large size and population includingIndia need to develop initiatives focused on achieving harmonized growth of bothSoftware and the Electronics Hardware.

Software & Services Sector

The Indian IT-ITES sector has played a vital role in acquiring Brand Equity for the nationand has contributed immensely to the increase in our GDP, employment and exports. Theexports of IT-ITES from India has grown from US $ 1.8 billion in 1997-98 to astaggering US $ 47.1 billion by 2008-09, a CAGR of 35 per cent and is estimated togenerate export revenue of US $ 49.7 billion in year 2009-10. India is regarded as thepremier destination for the global sourcing of IT-ITES, accounting for almost 51 per centof the global off shoring market. It is expected that the IT software and services sectorrevenue will grow from US $ 59.9 billion in year 2008-09 to US $ 105 billion by 2014and US $ 225 billion by 2020 with exports growing from US $ 47.1 billion to US $ 82

billion by 2014 and US $ 175 billion by 2020 respectively. The domestic revenue isprojected to grow from US $ 12.8 billion in year 2008-09 to US $ 23 billion by 2014 andUS $ 50 billion by 2020 with a CAGR of 13-14 per cent for both, exports and domestic.The Indian IT-ITES industry also has been a large generator of employment, with over2.3 million professionals directly employed by the industry and indirect job creation ofabout 8.2 million. Further, it is projected that the employment generation (direct andindirect) may grow from 10.5 million in 2009-10 to 30.0 million by 2020.

The phenomenal success of the IT-ITES industry has been facilitated by the pivotal roleplayed by the Software Technology Park (STP) Scheme, providing fiscal benefits as wellas the concerted efforts of the Indian IT-ITES industry. More than seven thousand IT-

ITES units have been exporting under the STP Scheme since its inception with 95%exports contribution of the total exports of IT-ITES sector. This bears testimony to thepopularity and relevance of the STP Scheme for IT-ITES sector.

To achieve the desired growth rate of IT-ITES sector, there is a need to take appropriatemeasures and formulate strategy for creating enabling environment. Government needs toprovide support to realize full growth potential, retain its advantage over other globaldestinations such as China, Philippines and Eastern Europe. Another important factor tobe considered is that due to its nature of being less capital intensive and flexible in itsoperations, the IT-ITES industry can be relocated in a very short time. If India is not ableto retain its competitiveness and the status of being most preferred destination for

outsourcing, not only the foreign companies would move to other more attractivedestinations but Indian companies may also prefer to set up operations in those countriesdue to the same reasons.

It is also felt that large players within the IT Sector are in a position to avail the benefitsconferred by the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Scheme. However, Medium/Smallplayers are unable to avail these benefits owing to the limitation of size and higher cost ofinfrastructure prevailing in SEZs. Such relocation (in case the tax benefit is withdrawnfor STP units) would not only result in infructuous expenditure without meaningfuleconomic gain, but is also unviable and impractical for the small and medium companies.


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Aspiration

To harness the potential of the electronics hardware and software & services sector tocontribute to the countrys development and growth in the next few years, particularly in

terms of investment for product development to move up the value chain, innovation,contribution to GDP, employment and inclusive growth; make India a trusted global hubfor electronics product development and manufacturing and enhance Indias brand equity

image in electronics hardware and software & services sector.

To take steps to make India a preferable destination for electronics hardwaremanufacturing;To leverage the fast increasing domestic demand in catalyzing domesticmanufacturing;To generate additional employment in both the sectors;To retain Indias leadership position as a global IT-ITES destination;To focus on development of IT-ITES industry in Tier-II & Tier III Cities.

The above aspiration can be quantified as follows:

To increase the electronics hardware sectors contribution towards GDP to3.5% from the current level of 1.86% over the next five years.To increase the electronics hardware sectors contribution towards World

production to 3% from the current level of 1.31% over the next five years.To increase the electronics hardware sectors contribution towards directemployment to 4 million from the current level of 1.4 million over the nextfive years.To achieve 13% annual growth rate for IT-ITES sector to reach exports

revenue of over US $ 100 billion by the year 2015-16.To achieve 13% annual growth rate for IT-ITES sector to reach domesticrevenue of about USD 30 billion by the year 2015-16.To provide fiscal incentives and other benefits to the industry for retaining thecompetitive edge and attract investment in Tier II & Tier III cities.

The above goals are proposed to be achieved through:

Implementation of Special Incentive Package Scheme (SIPS)Implementation of the recommendations of Task Force set-up to suggestmeasures to stimulate the growth of IT, ITES and Electronics hardwaremanufacturing Industry

Facilitate growth of Electronics Hardware IndustrySupport to the IT-ITES sector on continuous basis by the Government throughvarious business related initiatives, policy and regulatory measures etc.

SWOT Analysis

Electronics Hardware Manufacturing Sector

Strengths

Growth of this sector even during the period of global economic slowdown;Huge Indian consumer market with rising middle class and youth population

with disposable income in their hands;


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The Government has identified growth of electronics hardware manufacturingsector as a thrust area;Availability of large manpowerIndias potential to develop and manufacture electronics hardware for the

global markets and gain higher global share, besides meeting the countrysfuture requirement;

Presence of a good number of MNCs in the country;Enabling government policies and incentive schemes.

Weakness

Zero basic customs duty on items covered in Information TechnologyAgreement (ITA-1) of the WTO;Duty reductions due to Free Trade Agreements (FTA) / Preferential TradingAgreements (PTA) with a number of countries / trading blocks;Disability faced by the industry like high level of taxation; high cost of power,finance & freight; inadequate infrastructure; high transaction cost, etc.;

Lack of manufacturing base for semiconductors and other high tech electroniccomponents;Non-availability of capital goods and raw materials in the country;Lack of R&D for product development.

Opportunities

Global Electronics Hardware manufacturing, currently reported at USD 1750billion, is the largest and fastest growing manufacturing industry in the world.It is expected to reach USD 2000 billion by 2014 and USD 2400 billion by2020;There is substantial opportunity for stepping up production of electronics

hardware in the country because of the significant gap between demand andproduction, which is currently, stands at USD 45 billion, whereas theproduction was around US$20 billion.

Threats

In case corrective steps are not taken, it could lead to: A very high import of hardwareinvolving huge outgo of foreign exchange. Consequent loss of additional employment,which could have been generated by creation of manufacturing.

Threat to national security because of dependence on foreign equipment.


Strengths

India is rated as a top location due to the strength of its English-speakingtalent pool.

Lower cost of operation

Growing India market with rising middle class and youth population withdisposable income in their hands

India hosts 35% of the entities registered with CMMI Level-5

Enabling government policies to promote growth of this industry


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Weakness

Low employability (15% of graduates in general and 25% of engineeringgraduates are employable)

Infra-structure constraints (Connectivity by rail, road, air; telecom, power,water, social infrastructure etc. in Tier II and Tier III locations)

Rising costs

Uncertainty of fiscal incentives

Lack of an innovation ecosystem (low R&D spend, lack of institutionalcapability for academic research, incubator centre, lack of enforcement of IPlaws)

Opportunities

Emerging global trends indicate that the addressable market (total revenue

potential) for technology and business services is likely to expand three fold,from US $ 500 billion in 2008 to approximately US $ 1.5-1.6 trillion by 2020.The global sourcing market size will increase to US $ 450 billion by 2020.Even though India has a 51% share of the off-shoring market, there istremendous headroom for growth as current off shoring market is still a smallpart of the global outsourcing industry.

Threats

The Indian IT-ITES sector is currently facing the following challenges and threats:

Growing competition from other emerging destinations/countries is going tobe a great challenge for Indian IT-ITES sector;

China is intent on transforming its economy from a manufacturing engine intoa services hub, and the Chinese Government has been pushing the growth ofthe countrys service outsourcing market;

Easy relocation of IT-ITES poses a challenge before India to retain itscompetitiveness and the status of being most preferred destination foroutsourcing;

Large players within the IT sector have been in a position to avail the benefitsconferred by the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) scheme;

Development of the IT industry in Tier-II and Tier-III cities, which is feasibleunder the STP scheme, is important for ensuring long term competitiveness;

The sunset clause (withdrawal of income tax benefit under Section 10A/10Bbeyond 31st March, 2011) would hit over 5000 SME STP Units, exports,employment generation and the development of the IT/ITES sector especiallyin Tier-II and Tier-III locations.


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Proposed Strategy and Road Map

(1) Electronics Hardware Manufacturing Sector

Special Incentive Package Scheme (SIPS)

To promote the manufacture of semiconductor fabs and other high techelectronics products, the Special Incentive Package Scheme (SIPS) wasannounced by the Government on 21.3.2007.

DIT has received 26 applications under SIPS (as on 31.03.2010), envisaginginvestment of about Rs.2,29,000 crore over a period of 10 years.

Under the Scheme, in-principle letters have been issued to thirteen (13) SolarPhotovoltaic (SPV) applicants.

Out of these, 6 applicants have reported Financial Closure for an amountexceeding Rs.1000 crore. The proposed investment from these 6 companies

over a period of 10 years is about Rs.41,000 crore.

Task Force to suggest measures to stimulate the growth of IT, ITES and Electronics

Hardware Manufacturing Industry in India

i) To stimulate growth of the IT-ITES and electronics hardware manufacturingsectors, a Task Force set up in August 2009 has envisioned in its report that exports fromIT and ITES sector increasing to US $ 82 billion by 2014 and US $ 175 billion by 2020.The demand for electronics hardware in the country has been projected to increase fromUS $ 45 Billion in 2009 to US $ 125 billion by 2014 and US $ 400 billion by 2020.Government has initiated a number of steps for facilitating examination andimplementation of these recommendations of the Task Force on a fast track basis. MajorTask Force Recommendations on Electronics Hardwareare:

(a) Preference for Manufactured - in - India Electronic Products: The coreobjective behind the policy of giving preference to Manufactured - in - Indiaproducts is to promote electronic hardware manufacturing in the country whichwould achieve the following desired goals: (i) Building manufacturing base in astrategic segment (electronics), which permeates most of the othermanufacturing sectors, (ii) Employment generation and (iii) Address NationalSecurity concerns.

(b) Setting up of Semiconductor Wafer Fabs and manufacture of Chips in India(including Indian Microprocessor design initiatives): Semiconductor is heart ofany electronic system and constitutes at least 25% of the total value. In case ofhigh-end equipment and mobile handsets, this content goes as high as 60%.Presently, while this is imported, in order to enable manufacturing of electronicequipment and also push up the value addition in India, setting up ofSemiconductor wafer fab is a pre-requisite and critical requirement forenhancing domestic manufacturing capabilities in India.

(c) Dedicated Fund for Innovation, R&D, Indian IPR and Promotion of ElectronicEquipment manufacturing: In view of urgent need for intervention to promote

and develop innovation, R&D, Indian IPR and manufacturing within thecountry for electronic products especially those having security implications, it


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is proposed to create a dedicated Electronic Product Development Fund with

an initial corpus of Rs.5,000 crore for Innovations, R&D, IPR and productdevelopment in the Electronic and Telecom sectors.

(d) Setting up of a National Electronics Mission (NEM) and re-naming ofDepartment of Information Technology (DIT): It is felt that the

electronics/telecom industry requires a dedicated set-up that understands thecomplicated technical nuances of this industry, as also the rapidly changingworld trends and capital movements linked to it. Therefore, in order to giveabove focus, a National Electronics Mission (NEM) with adequate powersshould be set up so as to give a fillip to the manufacturing of electronichardware in India in a Mission mode.

As a visible symbol and affirmation of re-defined priority to manufacturing ofelectronic hardware, it is proposed that the Department of InformationTechnology may be re-named as Department of Information Technology andElectronics (DITE).

(e) Encourage manufacture of specific high priority electronic product lines in Indiaby providing capital grant and creation of electronic manufacturing clusters:This initiative would require specific interventions and actions with an objectiveto enable the industry to produce Manufactured - in - India Electronic productswith increased percentage of domestic value in terms of Bill of Material (BOM)from domestic manufacturers in Electronic Products.

(ii) To facilitate growth of Electronics Hardware Industry, it is proposed to continuetaking following actions on ongoing basis:

(a) To encourage the Industry Associations in Hardware to take up carrying outstudies on various aspects relating to Hardware and to consider such studies forfinancial support.

(b) To take steps to attract investment in Electronics Hardware manufacturingindustry.

(c) To prepare Annual Pre Budget Memorandum for Electronics/IT Industry.(d) Compliance of Electronics & IT Goods to Standards for Safety and EMC:

Consultation with the Industry for continued identification of products for

mandatory compliance to standards and to take a view regarding issuance ofnotification for registration of identified goods for their compliance toStandards for Safety and EMC.

To provide technical input to Ministry of Commerce for negotiation of Indiasposition on the issue of TBTs concerning Safety and EMC Compliance ofgoods, at WTO.

Participation at International Forums involving multilateral/bilateralrecognition schemes for exchange of conformity assessment data onSafety/EMC Compliance of goods.


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(e) Interaction with electronics hardware manufacturing Industry associations onongoing basis.

(f) To provide technical advise to respective Ministries/Departments on acontinuous basis on various matters like:

WTO matters (Information Technology Agreement, Rules of Origin, NonAgricultural Market Access, Technical Barriers to Trade, etc.)

Comprehensive Economic Cooperation (including Free Trade/PreferentialTrade Agreements)

Matters related to Inter-Ministerial Standing Committee (IMSC) for EHTPScheme

Matters related to Duty Exemption Schemes, EPCG scheme, DEPB Scheme,Duty drawback scheme, import of restricted items & fixation of StandardInput-Output Norms; Generalized System of Preferences (GSP)

Technical clarification regarding ITC (HS) classification

National Venture Fund for Software & IT Industry

Implementation Mechanism

(i) Special Incentive Package Scheme (SIPS)

1. Processing of Applications received under the Scheme.2. Consideration of the proposals by the Appraisal Committee (AC).3.

The proposals recommended by AC to be taken to the CCEA/CabinetCommittee on Infrastructure for approval.

(ii) Task Force to suggest measures to stimulate the growth of IT, ITES and

Electronics Hardware Manufacturing Industry in India

1. Analysis of the Task Force Report: It is observed that there are around 198recommendations for IT/ITES sector and Electronic Hardware ManufacturingIndustry, including Strategic Electronics. From the implementation point ofview some of these recommendations fall within the purview of DIT.

However, a substantial number of these recommendations pertain to otherCentral Ministries/ Departments/ State Governments.

2. Preparation of Note for COS: A note for COS was prepared and circulatedto concerned Ministries/ Departments, for ascertaining their views in respectof Task Force recommendations pertaining to them. Views from most of theimplementing Ministries/ Departments have been received.

Based on analysis of the views received, a revised COS note is underfinalisation. Further course of action shall be as per the decisiontaken/directions given by COS.


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Fiscal / Financial Incentives

Extension of income tax holiday under section 10A/10B of Income Tax Actfor STP & EHTP schemes and parity for STP scheme with the SEZ scheme.

Addressing implications of the Direct Tax CodeStable tax structure needed to encourage long term investment

Implementation Mechanism

i) Modified Software Technology Park (STP) Scheme:

The phenomenal success of the IT-ITES industry has been possible only through thepivotal role played by the Software Technology Parks (STP) Scheme and providing fiscalbenefits under Section 10A/10B of the Income Tax Act. Over 7000 IT units are operating

under the STP Scheme, which account for over 90% of the IT-ITES exports. The taxholiday under section 10A/10B of the Income Tax Act for STP units is available upto31.3.2011.

For long term continual of Indias leadership in the IT global market space and topreserve our competitive edge globally, DIT has proposed a modified STP scheme withthe same level of fiscal incentives, as available to IT SEZ Units. The SEZ Schemeprovides 100% Income Tax exemption on export profits available to SEZ units for 5years, 50% for next 5 years and 50% of ploughed back profits for 5 years thereafter aswell as exemption from MAT, service tax, dividend distribution tax, CST etc.Considering the unique nature of the IT-ITES industry and challenges from the emerging

destinations/countries like Malaysia, Vietnam, China, Philippines, Latin America, Centraland East European Nations, the fiscal incentive needs to be made available to IT-ITESunits under STP Scheme at par with SEZ units. Implementing agency - DIT/DOR

ii) Development of IT-ITES industry in Tier-II & Tier III Cities

(a) Employment creation in Tier II/III locations:

Currently, any graduate who is hired, irrespective of the institute he comesfrom or his skill levels, is put through the 16-week training (in areas such astechnical skills, soft skills, company orientation and process-specific domainskills) when he joins the firm. It has been estimated that the industry spends aminimum of US $ 1 billion annually on this entry-level training. Recruiting atrainable pool is not a sustainable option going forward. Inadequate English-language proficiency and lack of soft-skills are the key gaps in the currentgraduate pool, reported by the industry.

There is an urgent need to develop human capital skilled in ICT for bothsupply and demand sides, both at entry level and existing workforce.Similarly, lack of local IT talent especially at the smaller towns is a keybottleneck in improving the capacity of local technology providers to providehigh quality IT services to IT companies. Given the relatively pooreducational institutions, the IT-ITES industry should offer skill building on IT

or modern functional areas.


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It is estimated that Tier I locations currently account for over 85 per cent of ITsector employment and over 90 per cent of BPO employment in the country.Therefore, in Tier II/III locations, current employment by IT-ITES sector isabout 2.80 lakhs. For faster growth of employment in Tier II/III locations,training subsidy be provided for the incremental employment creation byexisting STP units in Tier-II/III locations. It is proposed to provide

employment to 3 lakhs fresh graduates/ professionals under the scheme overthe next five-year period. (For the larger benefit of this scheme to SMEs, it issuggested to stipulate a maximum amount of support per STP unit).Implementing agency - STPI

(b) Scheme to encourage setting up of STP/IT SEZ Units in TierII/III locations:It has been observed that initial existence of a few leading IT players in Tier IIand III locations is imperative for attracting further investments andtransforming it into a IT hub. Due to poor infrastructure in Tier II & III cities,high cost of generation of captive power and other associated costs to start the

operation, new STP/IT SEZ Units ( medium & large size companies) atthese locations be offered subsidy for the Capital Investment. This may bedone on the pattern of Special Incentive Package Scheme (SIPS) of theDepartment of Information Technology, Government of India. Implementingagency - DIT/STPI

(c) Training programmes for the fresh graduates:Create facility to provide the kind of training required by the industry throughthe educational institutions by introducing domain specific courses andinvolving the industry in the region. STPI facilities/incubation centres mayalso be used for arranging periodical training programmes for the fresh

graduates by involving the industry and experts for creating the employablemanpower. Implementing agency - STPI/DOEACC/CDAC


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e-Innovation / R&D

Define the aspiration

Purpose and Vision of the Strategy

Global economic growth has been a result of growth of technology and innovation.Different countries have adopted different policies for advancement in R&D andInnovation. In India we have largely been a follower of technology in almost all thespheres of electronics/IT whether for civilian or strategic applications. In the postliberalisation era due to opening up of the economy, almost all new technology solutionsare available in the country either through direct import or through manufacturing withlarge amount of imported components or modules. Though this has made available to theIndian customers the state-of-the-art solutions, the country is largely dependent oninnovations done elsewhere. India does have some institution and industry which are

doing innovative work, however, this needs to be increased manifold. It is imperative thatthe research and innovation initiatives at various institutions are linked to societal andindustry needs directly.

Where we aspire to be

To make India a hub of Research, Development and Innovation in the area of IT andElectronics contributing to overall socio-economic growth of the country.

The aspiration of the Department translates into the following goals:

a. Promote R&D for Manufacturing / Development of products, packages andservices : India provides a huge market for electronics/IT products and thisrequirement is going to grow rapidly in times to come. According to the recentreport of Task Force on IT/ITES and Electronics Hardware, the import bill of thissector, unless domestic manufacturing is enhanced, will surpass the import bill ofthe oil sector by 2020. According to this report, the demand for electronics inIndia is expected to be US $ 400 billion by 2020. Against this, the domesticproduction is projected to be only US $ 100 billion by that time. In order toachieve this huge shortfall, the country has to attract huge investments inelectronics manufacturing and development of software products, pacakges andservices. Manufacturing industry has always served as a pivotal factor in the

economic development of a country since this also leads to larger employmentpossibilities. It is important that we build strong linkages between themanufacturing industry & the R&D institutions in order to enable manufacturingof domestically designed products.

b. Widen the R&D base in the country :To emerge as an economic force intodyays knowledge era, it is imperative to have strong R&D base in the country.This requires development of highly skilled manpower on a much larger scalethrough an enabling environment. A very large portion of DITs R&D funding

currently goes to only a select group of DITs own R&D institutions and the Tier-I educational institutions. It is imperative that the outreach of R&D funding isextended to cover more number of educational institutions, small and mediumlevel industries including their in-house R&D set-ups. We also need to enhance


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the capacities to undertake research at smaller institutions by linking them to thelarger R&D institutions.

c. Creation/Utilisation of R&D infrastructure : To create an ecosystem forResearch and Development in IT and Electronics, there is a need to createappropriate R&D infrastructre in many more institutions which could also be used

by industry. In addition to this, Design Studios / innovation centers could be setup where individuals and SMEs can develop and test their products.

Assess the situation

Whatexternal factors will impact us

a. Fast pace of development of new and innovative technological breakthroughsb. Availability of technology / products from outside at low costsc. Fast changing Market Demandd. Drain of highly skilled technical manpower

Who are the stakeholders

1. Industry / Industry Associations2. R&D Organizations / Academic Institutions / Societies of DIT3. Society as users of technology

What are our Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats

Strengths

1. Demonstrated capability of IT/ ITES services industry2. Capabilities in end-to-end solution development, consulting engagements,

innovations etc. especially in IT

3. Strong educational system up to post-graduation level4. Capability to undertake Research at leading academic institutes

Weaknesses

1. No long-term strategy and low risk-taking attitude of the industry

2. Low R&D expenditure by the industry3. Little collaboration between Industry, R&D labs and academic institutions4. Low availability of skilled manpower for R&D5. Low capabilities in Product development / Conversion of prototype to product6. Lack of R&D for products tailored for Indian masses7. Lack of mandatory standards for import of electronics items - product,

processes, environment etc.

8. IPR issues9. Severely depleted S&T manpower in DIT (both in number and domain

expertise)


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Opportunities

1. Increased demand for innovative IT and IT enabled products and services inemerging markets. India can potentially be an innovation hub for such

markets.2. Expected increase in investment in infrastructure and energy by both the

government and private sector is likely to increase the need for innovation inIT / Electronics products and services as appropriate for domestic market.

3. Enhanced requirement of Embedded hardware and software development, andIntegrated Circuit designs for telecom, automotive, medical systems,aerospace, and energy systems are possible opportunities ($30 Billion by 2020as per NASSCOM, 2010).

4. Large number of consumers and SMEs in the country offer immense potentialas a test market for innovative products and services.

5. Moving up the value chainThreats

1. Cost advantage of India in services sector, products and R&D is decreasingdue to wage inflation and competition from other developing countries

2. Sub-standard imported products threaten genuine Indian productsWhat do we need to learn

1. How to increase collaboration between industry, R&D labs, Societies of DITand Academic Institutions

2. Develop attitude for risk taking R&D initiatives by the industry3. Protection of IPR of R&D / Innovations4. How to enhance participation of local industry in major Government of India

programmes (UID, e-Gov etc.)

Develop the Strategy

Promote R&D for Manufacturing, Development of products, packages and services

Strengthen and Create Schemes

For providing R&D grants to companies for collaborative research, innovationand product design, development of value added products for creating andincubating Indian Start-ups

Supporting technology start-up companies and SMEs


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Strengthen linkagesbetween Academic Institutes and Industry

Initiate follow-up action on recommendations of Task Force to stimulate thegrowth of IT and Electronics Hardware manufacturing industry

a. Setting up of Centers of Excellence in identified areasb. Enhance commercialization of technologies developed in government

supported laboratories

c. Provide government support for pre-competitive research in identifiedareas

d. Liberalizing the IPR policy for Government supported ResearchLink DIT R&D societies with academic institutions for specific programmes.Enable linkages of industry with academic institutions

Widen the R&D base in the country

Identify thrust areas and existing technological gaps along with institutions tocarryout R&D in these areas

Take-up capacity building programme in identified thrust areas

Create enabling environment for carrying out R&D in Tier-II and Tier-IIIinstitutions

Strengthen linkages between R&D / academic institutions and Industry

Creation/Utilisation of R&D infrastructure

Provide state-of-art infrastructure and technology development in emergingareas at identified Tier-I and Tier-II institutions

Provide appropriate technical infrastructure to identified Tier-II and Tier-IIIlevel institutions to initiate R&D / innovation in identified areas of IT andelectronics

Setup design studios at academic and research institutions for individuals andSMEs to develop and test products

Facilitate usage of infrastructure created in under government support in theidentified institutions and identified areas to be used by other organizations


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E-Learning

Background

The E-Infra, Internet Governance, HRD Group of Department of IT consists of 4Divisions namely: E-infrastructure, Internet Governance, Human ResourcesDevelopment in IT, E-learning and Human Centric Computing.

The world is in the midst of a technological revolution nucleated around Informationand Communication Technology (ICT). Advances in Human Language Technology willoffer nearly universal access to information and services for more and more people intheir own languages. India is a multilingual country with 22 official languages and 10scripts. It is therefore essential that tools for information processing in local languagesare developed and made available for wider proliferation of ICT to benefit the people atlarge and thus paving the way towards Digital Unite and Knowledge for all and arrestthe sprawling Digital Divide.

The E-infrastructure division aims to bring out schemes/projects for countrywide e-infrastructure development and to integrate various e-infrastructure developmentelements such as Broadband, Telemedicine, telecommuting, tele-cottages, Overlaynetworks for education health, Rural communications, community business centers etc.under a common program /scheme in DIT

The Internet Governance Division has a mandate for proliferation of Internet in India andinterventions at international and domestic forums towards formulation of regulatory andgoverning policies, principle, norms, rules, decision making procedure and programssuch as to shape the evolution of and user of Internet by each Indian populace. This is to

be undertaken in partnership with all stakeholders namely private sector, civil society anduser communities of Internet.

DITs HRD activities are aimed at generation of trained human resources for themanufacturing & service sectors of electronics and IT industry. Initiatives includeidentifying gaps emerging from the formal sector, planning programmes in non-formaland formal sectors for meeting these gaps.The E-learning facilitates the acceleration of the HR activities. The web based learningenables the learners to access the learning any where any place. The activities includedevelopment of tools technologies for e-learning.

This document highlights the key technology areas, implementation methodologies, highimpact application areas and guidelines to research on futuristic technologies in theabove mentioned areas.

Aspiration

The main aim is Communicating and moving up the knowledge chain overcominglanguage barrier with the following Objectives:

Research and Development of Technology, Software Tools and Applications forIndian Languages.

Proliferation of Language Technology products and solutions.


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Development of Standards for linguistic resources, tools and applications forinteroperability.

The main goals are a) to make available the Basic Information Processing Kit (BIPK)and other tools for free use of all Indian languages; and b) Work towards developmentof those technologies that are required to achieve the above vision

To project India as knowledge based economy with a ubiquitous and robust broadbandnetwork (Optical Fiber Cable) across the country with 100% bandwidth utilizationthrough contextual content and services. Country readiness for futuristic network andcomputing through R&D and development in a Public-Private-Partnership. To achievethis vision, the goals identified are:

Identify organizations in industry, R & D, Academia, Government and other keydepartments to setup a working group for Identification of thrust areas/gap areas/edge areas for initiating projects for countrywide e-infrastructure development .

To integrate various e-infrastructure development elements such as Broadband,Telemedicine, telecommuting, tele-cottages, Overlay networks for educationhealth, Rural communications, community business centers etc. under a commonprogram /scheme in DIT.

To create an appropriate management and monitoring mechanism for theprojects

The worldwide Internet user statistics places India in 3rd position in Asia with Internetuser base of 81 million and low Internet proliferation rate of 7%. The aspiration is toachieve a target of 100 PCs per 1000 and Internet users base of 300 million by 2015. As

also Internationalization of Internet in Indian Languages (Scripts) and computing inIndian language. To achieve this vision, the goals identified are:

Establish a Multi stakeholder public dialogue forum for identification of schemesand policies for countrywide proliferation of Internet.

Establish more NIXI hubs in the country and interconnect them for open peeringamong service providers thereby improved connectivity at lower costs to the enduser.

Incentivize Web hosting services, Data Centre establishments and Content

Creation and Content Distribution & Management in India to keep domestictraffic within India and thereby reduced latency and service deliveries for the enduser.

Research and Development of Search Engine for Indian Languages for Indianlanguage content and web search.

Creation of a Semantic Web for increased exchange and flow of informationbeyond

Creation of Voice Based Web surfing technology

Improving Web Accessibility in terms of provisioning for accessibility for the

differently-abled, Indian Language dependent web users etc.


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Research & Development funding for futuristic web technologies and accessdevices, etc for industry adoption.

Widespread National Internet Awareness Campaign

Initiate action for National Digital Content Mission.

Setting up of a National Digital CommissionPosition India as a major stakeholder in the Global Internet Resource Allocationand Management Policy and implementation decisions.

Liaise with International bodies ICANN, IGF, APNIC on Internet Resourceallocation and its management and governance policy development processes.

Government of India had announced the National Skill Development Policy which hasset a target of skilling 500 million by 2022. The policy also aims at taking the advantageof demographic dividends. India would have major sections of its population in theproductive age group (especially youth) while the developed world would have major

segment of ageing population. It is also seen that population at the working age group i.e.15 to 59 is expected to be increasing in India. Department of Information Technologyhas been listed as a part of the skill development initiative and has been given a target totrain 10 million persons by the year 2022.

The blended and supportive learning are found to be more useful in higher education.Immersive Interactive learning techniques, systematic approach in e-Learningdelivery, mentoring and an adaptive assessment mechanism have to be given seriousconsideration while evolving the e-Learning solutions.

(i) Introduce low cost broadband on all India basis

(ii) Introduce low cost PCs Laptops(iii)Convert max. number of courses into e-Learning courses/regional languages(iv) Teacher training

It is suggested that there is a need to have Public-Private partnership in e-Learninginitiatives. For effective private participation, Government could help by establishingquality standards, establishing accreditation arrangements and wide dissemination ofinformation so that good effort can flourish and inappropriate finds it difficult tosurvive.

Social networking can be exploited in making education more interesting. Medias help

can also be explored to enhance the new ways of improving this area. While designingcontent and e-Learning tools, we have to consider Engaging the Learner as the keyaspect. This would be possible by enhancing the content presentation and also bycreating virtual labs.

SWOT Analysis

Strength

Increased adoption of Web Based Communication and Services by the govts,industry and the civil society.

Increased awareness and usage of Internet and IT based services for their socio-economic needs.


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Increased computerization and mechanization of manufacturing anddevelopment processes by the small and medium enterprises. As also of theirbusiness process.

IT industrys adoption and deployment of Internet technology and servicessimultaneously with their global counterparts.

Approx. 500,000 route kms. of Optical Fiber network coverage across thecountry and 25,000 VSATs for connectivity.

Increased usage of Internet through mobile.

Expected roll out of 3G services to further increase mobile Internet and otherICT services.

Establishment of National Knowledge Network.

The initiatives have further positioned India as a strong ally for both thedeveloped and the developing countries and has an able technology support forthe under developed countries.

Weaknesses

IT industry investment in R&D initiatives in futuristic Internet and computingtechnologies is negligible.

Industry in a wait and watch state reluctant to adopt IPv6

IT industry investment in designing and developing products, applications andservices for the domestic market is negligible as compared to their spend forexports.

Very little or no linkage between academia, R&D institutions and industry each

working on similar R&D activities in silos leading to gaps or overlaps in efforts.

Vastly multilingual, multi cultural diasporas and geographical terrain makes itcomplicated task to envision and encompass the community specificrequirements in terms of infrastructure, technology, capability and context forroll out of schemes and initiatives at national level. Most of the initiatives aretherefore taken up at small scale with localized implementation as objectives.

The ubiquity of Internet and its open architecture allows for entrepreneurescapades of unwarranted cyber activities leading to cyber crime. Technologydeveloped for a socio economic upliftment also is misused for malpractices.

A largely English-speaking base of Internet user has resulted in Indian ITindustry not investing in development of tools and technologies for Indianlanguages.

Most of the resources required for India in computing have been developed bythe Department of Information Technology, Government of India through itssocieties.

Further there has been little interest in development of application and serviceson the IPv6 protocol. With IPv4 address space getting consumed by 2011, thecountry may suddenly face disruption in its Internet space due to last mandateadoption/adaptation of IPv6 protocol by the Internet service providers.

The efficacy of e-Learning, virtual class, & virtualization of Learning has notyet been fully understood and the potential of these has not been fully


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emphasized and exploited. There is a need to setup virtual university forIT/Computer Science by effectively leveraging the potential of e-Learningmethodology.

There is a need to provide adequate opportunities for technical upgradation ofscientific manpower to keep them abreast with the emerging new

technologies/fields, etc.

Opportunity

India is keenly watched for its schemes and plans for universal Internet access toits vastly multi-lingual and multi-cultural population.

Inputs and Best Practices are expected from India for its implementation ofschemes in the areas of Access, e-Governance, Multi-lingualisation of Internet,Internet Security, etc.

Worldwide development in the area of Internet and information technology hasbeen focused on use of English (Latin script). India with its multiple languages

with some of them such as Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Urdu, etc. alsoused in other countries is looked upon as a testbed for implementation oflocalized Internet access and services base.

A young population has a vast arena for development of tools and technologies,services, applications which could be in demand by other countries.

India is also expected to take a leadership position in developing and articulatingthe interests and perspectives of developing countries at international IG relatedpolicy forums.

Government of Indias announcement of National Skill Development Initiative

which envisages empowering all individuals through improved skills,knowledge, and nationally and internationally recognized qualifications to enableaccess to decent employment in promoting inclusive growth and to ensureIndias competitiveness in the global market.

The tools/technology build/developed now will find immedi

Draft Strategy Plan DIT 310810

Documents

Transcript of Draft Strategy Plan DIT 310810