{"id":239572,"date":"2023-04-25T20:00:27","date_gmt":"2023-04-25T14:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=239572"},"modified":"2023-04-26T17:50:21","modified_gmt":"2023-04-26T12:20:21","slug":"next-step-for-the-infotech-boom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/next-step-for-the-infotech-boom\/","title":{"rendered":"Next step for the infotech boom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Source-<\/strong> The post is based on the article \u201cNext step for the infotech boom\u201d published in the \u201cBusiness Standard\u201d on 25th April 2023.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Syllabus: <\/strong>GS 3 \u2013 Indian Economy<\/p>\n<p><strong>News<\/strong>&#8211; The article explains the growth of infotech industry in India<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What are major reflections from the present status of the infotech industry in India?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The<strong> long-term vision of science and technology development<\/strong> in the Nehru era of planning created a capacity to keep track of technology developments.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>rapid expansion of engineering education became <\/strong>the basis for<strong> India\u2019s global comparative advantage<\/strong> in medium-skill service supply.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What was the policy focus of the government in the 70s and its impacts?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The policy focus in the 1970s shifted on public sector companies to <strong>manufacture hardware for defence, space and atomic energy<\/strong>, as a part of the <strong>self-sufficiency strategy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The public enterprises developed the skills required for<strong> specific needs,<\/strong> mainly for <strong>governmental applications<\/strong>. It had a limited impact on the economy. The high tariffs on hardware imports constrained the development of the service industry.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How did the policy focus of the government after 80s change the status of the infotech industry in India?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The change made in the mid-1980s in the infotech service industry has an <strong>economy-wide impact<\/strong>. The new policies announced by the Rajiv Gandhi-led government in 1984.<\/p>\n<p>The tariffs on hardware imports were<strong> substantially reduced<\/strong> and <strong>software technology parks <\/strong>were established. They provided <strong>satellite links<\/strong> to major IT developers, and enabled them to <strong>directly transmit<\/strong> the work done in India abroad.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What are the other factors responsible for growth of the infotech industry in India?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The big change occurred towards the end of the last century. Computer programmes designed with <strong>two-digit year numbers<\/strong> had to be modified in a time-consuming process to take<strong> four digit year numbers. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Indian software service companies could do this at low cost because of their <strong>low worker wages levels. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Software exports from India <strong>increased nearly 2.5 times<\/strong> in dollar terms <strong>between 1998\u20131999 and 2000\u20132001<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Another change that generated new options for the Indian software service firms was the <strong>establishment of the euro currency<\/strong>. It required similar tedious changes in computer programs.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, the India software service industry has become <strong>a key global player<\/strong> in the trade in software services and internet technology-enabled services. Its <strong>annual exports<\/strong> have grown from around <strong>$3 billion in FY2000 to $181 billion in FY2022.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is the way forward for future growth of the infotech industry in India?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>A greater presence on the <strong>frontiers of infotech development<\/strong> and <strong>better integration into the needs of the national economy<\/strong> will decide the future of IT industry<\/p>\n<p>The industry is a<strong> major global player<\/strong> but not yet a<strong> major innovator<\/strong>. The <strong>R&amp;D spending <\/strong>of the major companies is about 1% of turnover. It is way below the levels for <strong>global internet players<\/strong> not just in the developed world but also in China.<\/p>\n<p>With <strong>artificial intelligence (AI),<\/strong> India\u2019s<strong> cost advantage in low-cost services<\/strong> will be eroded unless it itself becomes a major player in AI and other new technology developments.<\/p>\n<p>This will require substantially <strong>greater investment in R&amp;D<\/strong> by both the government as well as infotech companies.<\/p>\n<p>There are other areas that are becoming more important, like<strong> cloud computing. <\/strong>Most users in India are dependent on foreign suppliers of cloud services.<\/p>\n<p>It is also necessary that the infotech service industry increases its<strong> focus on domestic sales, <\/strong>which at present are just a <strong>little above 20% of their turnover. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The potential and the need for domestic sales will increase with the development of an <strong>open access digital framework<\/strong> by the government, with assistance and cooperation with private sector software pioneers<\/p>\n<p>This <strong>digital public network <\/strong>includes Aadhaar, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), and new developments like the <strong>Open Credit Enablement Network (OCEN) and the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Access to digital frameworks has shot up with the growing number of <strong>smartphone and internet users <\/strong>and <strong>bank deposit holders.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The infotech service companies must now see themselves as a <strong>major domestic supplier of services <\/strong>and not just as <strong>globally competitive exporters.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source- The post is based on the article \u201cNext step for the infotech boom\u201d published in the \u201cBusiness Standard\u201d on 25th April 2023. Syllabus: GS 3 \u2013 Indian Economy News&#8211; The article explains the growth of infotech industry in India What are major reflections from the present status of the infotech industry in India? The&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/next-step-for-the-infotech-boom\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Next step for the infotech boom<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[10503,216,11497],"class_list":["post-239572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-business-standard","tag-gs-paper-3","tag-infotech-industry","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239572\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}