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– R. Shivaji Rao

Mr K.S. Sripathy, Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary, presenting the CSI Fellowship Award to Dr Debar Das, West Bengal IT Minister, at the 43rd Annual Convention of Computer Society of India in Chennai on Thursday. Also seen are Mr C. Chandramouli (left), Tamil Nadu IT Secretary, and K.K. Aggarwal President, Computer Society of India.

Our Bureau

Chennai, Sept. 11 The Indian information technology industry is neglecting the huge domestic market, and pursuing only exports, said Dr C. Chandramouly, Secretary, Information Technology, Government of Tamil Nadu.

Worldwide, the Indian ‘techie’ has become a brand and India has made a significant mark in the IT field. Nearly $40 billion of IT exports is not a mean achievement.

“But while we have ‘Made in India’ products and solutions, is it ‘Made for India’? Do we have technology designed for the Indian market?”

This is a question all stake holders, including government, need to ask themselves, he said at the inauguration of 43rd Annual Convention of Computer Society of India and 25th Conference of the South East Asia Regional Computer Confederation.

Dr Chandramouly said often Indian companies seem to be doing low-end work designed and developed somewhere else. “Are we just continuing to work on labour arbitrage to our advantage or go to the next level of product development and innovate products ‘Made in India’ and ‘Made by India’?” he said.

Only 6 per cent is Tamil Nadu’s share in software product development and most of the other work done is of lower end. It is time to create an ecosystem to do more of product innovation and create more intellectual property, he said.

On digital divide, the IT Secretary said it is not between rural and the urban; rich and the poor but between “digitally accessed person and digitally non-accessed.”

It is true that even among the affluent sections of the society, there is still disconnect when it comes to the use of ICT (information, communication and technology). Whether it is in academia, government or any other sector, including manufacturing and industrial, there exists a disconnect between “digitally accessed and digitally non-accessed.” Can we reach out to this section, which is denying the use of ICT in day-to-day life?, he said.

In Tamil Nadu, around 5,000 Internet kiosks will be ready by October and new technology should be developed to roll out e-governance projects. The industry should look at application development for the common man and take technology to grassroots level, he said.

Dr Chandramouly urged the IT industry to be part of an inclusive growth. “We need to grow together and take along with us those ‘disadvantaged’ people who have not been part of this growth. We need to take ICT to rural areas,” he said.

The Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary, Mr K.S. Sripathy, said the power problem in the State was only a temporary one. “The State is doing everything at its command to ensure that power generation comes back to normal. For this, we would expect the IT industry in particular and industry in general to tide over the present situation and also look at alternative sources of energy.”

More Stories on : Events | Exports & Imports | Tamil Nadu

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