Ravi Shankar Prasad to discuss digital economy with industry leaders

NEW DELHI: The IT Ministry will discuss with industry leaders on June 16 ways to expedite formulation of a roadmap to make India a USD 1 trillion digital economy as soon as possible besides planning the next phase of growth, according to PTI report.

The ministry has received confirmation from about 20 leaders including Infosys co-founder S Gopalakrishnan, Wipro Chief Strategy officer Rishad Premji, Nasscom President R Chandrasekhar, NIIT Group chairman Rajendra Powar, Flipkart founder Sachin Bansal, Lava CMD Hari Om Rai, Google India VP Rajan Anandan and Tech Mahindra CEO CP Gurnani.

"We are looking for ideas from thought leaders to make India an USD 1 trillion digital economy as soon as we can by empowering people at the bottom of the pyramid. USD 1 trillion is not the limit but a milestone," Ministry of Electronics and IT Additional Secretary Ajay Kumar told reporters here.

He said that at present India is around USD 450 billion digital economy and at existing growth rate it is expected to be USD 1 trillion in next 7 years.

As of now, the Indian electronics market is estimated to be around USD 100 billion, IT sector USD 150 billion, telecom USD 150 billion, e-commerce USD 30-40 billion and rest is estimated to be size of shared economy like taxi hailing services, start-ups etc.

"We have called representatives from all segments of digital economy. Based on suggestion and outcome, we are open to create a working group that will come up with policy prescription for things that are relevant for Indian environment. There will be special focus on development of economically weaker section," Kumar said.

The IT ministry will look to bring in improvement in areas like use of technology is agriculture, education, healthcare etc.

The meeting will be chaired by Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, he said.