As part of its ongoing Digital India campaign, the government of India has announced a number of initiatives which are set to accelerate the process of digital transformation for the whole country. Industry bodies and organizations have applauded the effort being done.
ASSOCHAM Applaud 'Digital India'
At a cost of INR 100,000 crore, the proposed 'Digital India Week' is intended to leverage the Government's digital drive for implementation of smart citizen services and advancements in communication, thereby bolstering India's demographic dividend through 'digital strength'.
Digital inclusion is the primary focus of the Government with priority on penetration in North East region and rural India. The envisioned Digitization drive will encompass multiple parallel objectives:
'Digital Products and Platforms to ease delivery of Government services like Digital Locker, Mygov.in, e-sign framework, e-hospitals and National Scholarship Portal. Efficient Infrastructure to inter-connect the entire country, including 250,000 gram panchayats through 1,50,000 Post Offices (with high-speed optical fibre-based Internet access) under the National Rural Internet Mission. Policy reforms dependent on extension of digital access (such as open source software), facilitation of BPOs at village level and e-development fund to promote creation of intellectual property,' said, Rana Kapoor, President, ASSOCHAM.
Industry Salutes Digital India Campaign·
Speaking on these developments, Hari Om Rai, Chairman & Managing Director, Lava International Limited said, 'Three key pillars that will define India's transformation into a digitized nation will be Make in India, Skill India and Digital India. And technology will be at the core of this. Being one of the fastest growing smartphone brands in India, Lava is committed to these initiatives. We have already set up our first manufacturing unit in Noida and plan to invest INR 12 billion to scale it up in a phased manner. The facility will be ramped up to eventually have a target production capacity of 100 million phones per annum and employment potential for 100,000 people.'
Talking about the Digital India initiatives, Nitin Gupta, CEO and Founder, PayU India, said, 'Digital India is a great step and it will add both efficiency and transparency· in the system. We as a digital payments company will be even more benefitted as this will increase the number of people accessing Internet in India.· We salute the initiative.”
Expressing his opinion on the Digital India initiative, Pratik Jain, Co-Founder, MyOperator, said, ·The vision of a digital India is grand. If successful, it could transform citizen access to multimedia information, content and services. It also gives the government access to a great deal of information. However, laying cables doesn’t ensure they will be used.' The startup ecosystem is waiting for such initiatives. Absence of startup friendly policies has made many successful startups shift their bases outside India. This initiative can be the start of a big change. I am very optimistic about it.'
