National Policy on Information Technology 2012 gets cabinet’s approval

September 21, 2012

The Cabinet approved the National Policy on Information Technology 2012. The Policy endeavors to leverage Information & Communication Technology (ICT) to address the nation’s economic and developmental challenges.
The Policy envisages the growth of the IT market to USD 300 Billion and creation of additional 10 million jobs by 2020.
The key areas of the policy:

Enhance revenues of IT and ITES (Information Technology Enabled Services) Industry from 100 Billion USD currently to 300 Billion USD by 2020 and elevate exports from 69 Billion USD currently to 200 Billion USD by 2020.
Gain significant global market-share in emerging technologies and Services.
Encourage innovation and R&D in cutting edge technologies and development of applications and solutions in areas like localization, location based services, mobile value added services, Cloud Computing, Social Media and Utility models.
Promote adoption of ICTs in key economic and strategic sectors to enhance their competitiveness and productivity.
Offer fiscal benefits to SMEs and Startups for adoption of IT in value creation
Build a pool of 10 million additional skilled man-power in ICT.
Make at least one individual in every household e-literate.
Provide for mandatory delivery of and affordable access to all public services in electronic mode.
Increase transparency, accountability, efficiency, reliability and decentralization in Government and in particular, in delivery of public services.
Leverage ICT for key Social Sector initiatives like Education, Health, Rural Development and Financial Services to promote equity and quality.
Develop India as the global hub for development of language technologies, to encourage and aid development of content accessible in all Indian languages and thereby help bridge the digital divide.
Enable access of content and ICT applications by differently-abled people to promote inclusive development.
Leverage ICT for expanding the workforce and enabling life-long learning.
Strengthen the Regulatory and Security Framework for ensuring a Secure and legally compliant Cyberspace ecosystem.
Adoption of Open standards and promote open source and open technologies.