TCS Feedback on National IT Policy

The National IT Policy published by the Department of IT, Government of India is a welcome development and we believe
that it will provide a thrust and direction towards increasing IT adoption in India and maintaining the competitive advantage
of the Indian IT-ITES industry. IT enabled interventions are key to increasing the competitiveness of the various sectors of
the Indian economy, delivering inclusive growth outcomes and transforming governance efficiency and accessibility.
The DITs National IT policy is comprehensive and covers many of the important aspects of the role IT can play in national
development. Our feedback on some of the points of the IT policy is elucidated below.
Section of Policy
Mission (Section II)
Objectives (Section III)

&

Strategies (Section IV):

Creating ecosystem for a
globally competitive IT/ITES
Industry

Strategies (Section IV):

Promotion of Innovation and
R&D in IT Sector

TCS Feedback
The mission statement is well defined. Three areas which we believe should get
included in the Mission and Objectives of the national IT policy are:
o Green IT: Enhance deployment and usage of Green IT in both
computing and non-computing infrastructure (e.g. buildings). IT can be a
strong enabler for realising the objectives of Indias National Action Plan
for Climate Change. Sustainable and environment friendly E-wastage
management should also be a part of the national IT policy objectives.
o Standards: Creation and implementation of a comprehensive national IT
standards framework for current and emerging paradigms like biometrics, cloud computing, Green IT etc
o IPR: While the objectives of the policy include fostering R&D, managing
IPR including enforcement of existing regulations and creation of
awareness of IPR should be part of the objectives.
Point 2 of the section on Objectives talks about gaining significant global market
share in cloud based technologies and services and mobile based VAS. Point 3
of the Objectives section talks about promoting R&D and innovation in some key
areas. Point 3.3 of the section on R&D and innovation talks about building R&D
infrastructure for some other set of technological areas.
Given that all of the above three points are essentially referring to promoting
R&D and innovation in emerging technologies, we propose that it might be
worthwhile to bring an alignment in the key areas mentioned in each of the three
points.
While the policy includes efforts in accessing new markets (point 1.3), given the
increase in protectionist sentiments in the IT-ITES industrys core markets (UK,
USA & Europe), one of the strategies of the national IT policy should be to
minimise the impact of non-tariff barriers (visa and work-permit restrictions,
increased procedural and compliance requirement etc) by the countries
representing the IT industrys core market.
The policy should also provide assistance to IT SMEs for accessing new
markets by creating linkages with associations, trade bodies and other
institutions in the target markets. IT SME specific trade delegations to the target
markets under the auspices of DIT can also be a useful mechanism to promote
access to new markets.
IT SMEs should also be given fiscal incentives for IP development. This could be
in form of tax incentives or grant-in-aid. The existing schemes of DIT to provide
grants to SMEs for patent management should be enhanced.
While the policy mentions innovation fund as part of point 3.1, it will be useful for
the policy to have a specific and special focus on increasing the level of seed
funding for IT entrepreneurship. Absence or relative lack of seed funding has
been identified as a major bottleneck for technological entrepreneurship as it
requires patient investment capital. Instead of directly investing in start-ups, DIT
should look at adopting a 'fund of funds' model where DIT provides funding to

SEBI registered venture funds that have a focus on seed funding. This model
has been adopted by the Department of Science & Technology and Department
of Bio-Technology, Government of India.

Strategies (Section IV):

Creating an ecosystem for
Internet and mobile driven
Service Industry

Strategies (Section IV):

Enabling Service Delivery
through e-Governance

Strategies (Section IV):

Security of Cyber Space

Providing access to public funded research output to entrepreneurs through

appropriate valuation mechanisms could be an important aspect of the
innovation agenda of the national IT policy.
The policy rightfully recognises that the mobile penetration in India is a great opportunity
to launch disruptive products and business models. Points 5.2 and 5.3 of this section
talks about integrating internet and mobile service delivery into a common platform for
delivery of government and non-government services and integrating Aadhar, financial
and location based services into the integrated platform.
In a country of India's size, federal structure and heterogeneity, it may be perhaps
difficult to have a common platform which can deliver government and non-government
services. Therefore it may be more prudent to create a collection of platforms each
servicing specific domains and functionalities. These multiple service platforms should
be interoperable through common standards (open standards).

The inclusion of new mission mode projects in health, education, financial

services and PDS in NeGP is a welcome and it will create new opportunities and
also enable an improvement in the delivery of these services to the citizens.

The Electronics Service Delivery Bill is also a very significant initiative and the
implementation of this Bill will provide a great momentum to the implementation of
e-governance especially at the district, rural and local body (ULB & PRI) levels.

Cloud computing as a technology paradigm has a tremendous potential to reduce

cost, reduce implementation timelines and increase reusability. Under the national
IT policy, there should be an increased focus on cloud computing as a
mainstream delivery model by establishing a e-Gov Cloud which can be
accessed by the various tiers of government to implement digital public services.
Ensuring security of cyber space is an area of great importance. Firstly, it is
important to position India as a safe and secure outsourcing destination.
Secondly, it is equally important to protect the personal data of citizens and
government data from unauthorised use.

The creation of the Information Security Assurance Framework under the policy
(Point 10.4) is a welcome step. The policy should also ensure that the Framework
once developed, is implemented retroactively in existing e-governance
applications and in the forth coming e-governance applications. There should be
zero tolerance for any compromises on security lacunae.