The vision of Information Technology(IT) policy is to use IT as a tool for raising the living standards of the common man and enriching their lives. Though, urban India has a high internet density, the government also wants PC and Internet penetration in the rural India.
In Information technology (IT), India has built up valuable brand equity in the global markets. In IT-enabled services (ITES), India has emerged as the most preferred destination for business process outsourcing (BPO), a key driver of growth for the software industry and the services sector.
India's most prized resource in today's knowledge economy is its readily available technical work force. India has the second largest English-speaking scientific professionals in the world, second only to the U.S.
According the data from ministry of communication and information technology, the ITES-BPO industry has grown by about 54 per cent with export earnings of US$ 3.6 billion during 2003-04. Output of the Indian electronics and IT industry is estimated to have grown by 18.2 per cent to Rs. 1,14,650 crore in 2003-04.
The share of hardware and non-software services in the IT sector has declined consistently every year in the recent past. The share of software services in electronics and IT sector has gone up from 38.7 per cent in 1998-99 to 61.8 percent in 2003-04. However, there has been some welcome acceleration in the hardware sector with a sharp deceleration in the rate of decline of hardware's share in electronics and IT industry. Output of computers in value terms, for example, increased by 36.0, 19.7 and 57.6 per cent in 2000-01, 2002-03, and 2003-04, respectively.
All the sub-sectors of the non-software component of electronic and IT industry grew at over 8 per cent in 2003-04, but this was far below the rate of growth of software services. Overall, after declining precipitously from 61.4 per cent in 1998-99 to 40.9 percent in 2001-02, the share of hardware in this important industry declined only marginally to 38.2 percent in the two subsequent years.
Export markets continue to dominate the domestic segment. The size of the domestic market in software relative to the export markets for Indian software, which was 45.2 percent in 1998- 99, after declining rapidly to 29.8 percent in 2001-02, fell only to 29.1 percent and 27.7 per cent in the two subsequent years.
Value of software and services export is estimated to have increased by 30 percent to US$12.5 billion in 2003-04. The Software Technology Parks of India have reported software exports of Rs. 31,578 crore (US$ 6,947 million) during April - December 2004- 05 as against Rs. 22,678 crore (US$ 4,913) during the corresponding period last year.
The annual growth rate of India's software exports has been consistently over 50 percent since 1991. No other Indian industry has performed so well against the global competition.
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According to a NASSCOM-McKinsey report, annual revenue projections for India?s IT industry in 2008 are US $ 87 billion and market openings are emerging across four broad sectors, IT services, software products, IT enabled services, and e-businesses thus creating a number of opportunities for Indian companies. In addition to the export market, all of these segments have a domestic market component as well.
The IT-enabled service industry in India began to evolve in the early nineties when companies such as American Express, British Airways, GE and Swissair set up their offshore operations in India.
Today a large number of foreign affiliates operate IT-enabled services in India. The different service lines of Itenabled services offshored to India include customer care, finance, human resources, billing and payment services, administration and content development
MAJOR STEPS TAKEN FOR PROMTION OF IT INDUSTRY
With the formation of a ministry for IT, Government of India has taken a major step towards promoting the domestic industry and achieving the full potential of the Indian IT entrepreneurs. Constraints have been comprehensively identified and steps taken to overcome them and also to provide incentives.
In order to broaden the internet base, the Department OF Information technology has also announced a programme to establish State Wide Area Network (SWAN) up to the block level to provide connectivity for e-governance. The Department has also set up Community Information Centres (CICs) in hilly, far-flung areas of the North-East and Jammu and Kashmir to facilitate the spread of benefit of information and communication technology. It is also proposed to set up CICs in other hilly, far-flung areas of the country like Uttaranchal, Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep.
A number of steps have been taken to meet the challenge of zero duty regime in 2005 under the Information Technology Agreement (ITA-1). Tariffs on raw materials, parts, other inputs and capital goods have been rationalized to make domestic manufacturing viable and competitive.
In order to broaden the internet base, the Department OF Information technology has also announced a programme to establish State Wide Area Network (SWAN) up to the block level to provide connectivity for e-governance. The Department has also set up Community Information Centres (CICs) in hilly, far-flung areas of the North-East and Jammu and Kashmir to facilitate the spread of benefit of information and communication technology. It is also proposed to set up CICs in other hilly, far-flung areas of the country like Uttaranchal, Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep.
A number of steps have been taken to meet the challenge of zero duty regime in 2005 under the Information Technology Agreement (ITA-1). Tariffs on raw materials, parts, other inputs and capital goods have been rationalized to make domestic manufacturing viable and competitive.
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