Govt draws roadmap to make India a $1 trillion digital economy

The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) has framed out a 1,000 days plan, which aims to make India a $1 trillion digital economy in a few years. The key of the plan is to make India digitally connected across the world, bringing consistency in digital governance, simplifying rules and legislations for technologies and social media firms and focus on building India high-tech power. According to an official, the aim is to make India the largest connected nation in the world, and secondly, all government departments and officials have applications and websites, but to make them coherent is crucial to empower Indians. He further added that the focus lies on how to expand the digital economy of the country. According to the plan, the other important issues are to make laws governing technology, social media and cyberspace. The government will ensure that the internet is available, safe, trusted and accountable in India with a minimum government interface. Other focus areas are high-tech and developing skills, including artificial intelligence (AI), cyber security, semiconductors, blockchain, supercomputing and quantum computing. The official told the media that the focus is only to build the nation globally competitively, so the focus will be specifically on those areas. Talent development and skills will be another focus area since the rush for talent has increased post-Covid-19 pandemic because of the fast digitalisation of the companies. As per the Credit Suisse report, the IT companies of India have witnessed a sharp increase in revenues. The report estimates the increase of the wage bill to $13 billion. The government plans to create one crore IT skilled workers in three years. Semiconductors manufacturers and high-value-added products are also a key focus area, said the official. As per the estimates, by December 2021, more than 65% of the domestic semiconductor demand would come from phones, and 68% from engine control units, LED lights, CCTVs, fibre optics, notebooks, smart energy meters and televisions. Image SourceAlso read: FDI to help India become $5 trillion economy: Deloitte CEO