“Digital India will be the game-changer for eGovernance, e-commerce and Electronics Manufacturing. By bringing broadband connectivity to every nook and corner of the country, it will empower people and lead to spurt in the demand for digital goods and services, says Ravi Shankar Prasad, in an exclusive interview with Express Computer Team
You are handling telecom and IT departments. What are your priorities in these two sectors?
My first priority is to set right the legacy issues. By legacy issues, I mean the way the departments had been functioning during the last few years at a political level. For too long the ministry has been in the news for wrong reasons. My first priority is to change the image. My instruction to the officials in my ministry is very clear they must take decisions on merits. We have to be reasonable, fair and work with the aim of safeguarding consumer interest and ensuring high growth in telecom and IT sectors. Telecom and IT are the two areas of high-growth for our country. I am grateful to the Prime Minister that he has entrusted me with these two crucial departments.
What is the government trying to achieve with the Digital India initiative? What is in it for the common man?
Today India sits on the cusp of an IT revolution. The Prime Minister has raised a very important slogan IT + IT = IT (India? talent + Information Technology = India Tomorrow). Digital India is a game-changer. Its three basic objectives are – citizen empowerment, governance improvement, and changing the IT profile of India. This initiative will connect smaller towns and remote villages, ensuring that they too have high-speed Internet services. We have set a target for providing broadband to 50000 panchayts this year, one lakh next year, and another one lakh next year. Rs 30000 crore is planned to be spent on this initiative for expanding the reach of broadband. Digital India will lead to an explosion of e-commerce in rural India. Companies can build their warehouse in convenient locations to supply goods and services to the people, who can order by the click of the mouse. In the Digital India initiative, we will address the issue of digital literacy by providing 10 to 40 hours of courses for digital literacy. The central government is working with various state governments to ensure the speedy implementation of the Digital India initiatives.
The Digital India initiative will require a lot of bandwidth. Today the average holding of spectrum by operators is much less than what we have globally. How do you plan to improve the situation?
It is not only about the availability of spectrum or the holding of spectrum, it is also about the effective use of spectrum. The operators have to ensure that there is optimal usage of spectrum. My department is working to develop the guidelines under which the telcos can do spectrum trading and spectrum sharing. We are also in dialogue with the defence ministry to get them to release some spectrum. Once we have the spectrum, it will be auctioned.
The promotion of electronics manufacturing is high on the agenda of the government. What is your view on the electronics sector in the country?
The demand of electronics products in the country is already quite high, and with an initiative like Digital India the demand will go up further. Today India has close to a billion mobile phone subscriptions, but the crucial question is why are mobile phones not being manufactured here. In fact, current trends indicate that by the year 2020 the total electronics import bill for the country can go up to $400 billion. This is the stage at which the electronics import bill will surpass our petroleum import bill. We are now trying to energise the entire country about the critical need for having electronics manufacturing industry in India. I have communicated with many Chief Ministers on this subject. I have also called a meeting of the IT Ministers and IT Secretaries. Many Chief Ministers in the country are now interested in having electronics manufacturing clusters in their state. I am grateful for their support.
Recently the Prime Minister launched the Make in India campaign. What steps are being taken to put the country on the world map as a favourable business destination for IT and electronics manufacturing companies?
As the Prime Minister has pointed out, there are three distinct advantages that India has. These are Democracy, Demography and Demand. There is no dearth of human resource in India. We have a large pool of technically qualified and young population. When I learned that 70% of Google traffic outside USA is from India, I felt very proud. Almost every major MNC has R&D and development centres here. If we can do well in software, we can also excel in electronics. The electronics manufacturing companies will come to India to take advantage of the high domestic demand and they can also export from India. The Smart Cities that the government is planning to have along the industrial corridor will lead to a further explosion in the demand for electronics products. We have already opened up the defence sector to private investments. Up to 40% FDI is now permitted in the defence sector, but the thing is that 60% of defence products consists of electronics.
The Digital India initiative would require the participation of private sector IT companies. But the past experience of private sector participation in eGovernance projects has not been good. Many projects get delayed and there have been other problems. What steps can be taken to ensure that there is enthusiastic participation of the private sector in eGovernance projects?
Post May 26, 2014, we have a new government in the country. This is a different India. This is an India where everyone is enthused about the way the new government looks at the process of digitisation in the country. The Prime Minister struck a chord with every Indian when he spoke of his vision of Digital India from the ramparts of the Red Fort. The citizens of this country, the government departments and the private sector, all are equally enthused about this initiative. Many private sector companies are in talks with us for taking care of various projects. The Make in India campaign is also generating a lot of interest. The private sector companies understand very well that this government is serious about driving eGovernance and IT industry in the country.
Do you think that the bulk of the work in Digital India initiative will have to be done by the private sector?
When there is demand for certain kinds of goods and services, the private sector is surely going to come in. Government can? do everything. Private sector will have ample opportunities in Digital India – e-commerce is there, e-education is there, ehealth is there, there is broadband retailing. The government is there to create an enabling atmosphere in which the private sector finds ample room to grow. One of the directions that I have given to my department is to create an enabling atmosphere for the opening of BPOs in the smaller towns. Currently, every IT organisation is going to the big towns to set up their centres, but if they know that there is an incentive for opening a BPO in small towns, then they will go there. This will lead to proliferation of IT in all parts of the country.
One area where India is unable to make much of a headway is Semiconductor Wafer Fabrication (FAB). What can be done to start FAB manufacturing in the country?
We are pushing two agencies for setting up FAB units in the country. Currently the agencies are developing their own revenue models and we are hopeful that they will soon start working on their projects. But apart from FAB there are many other kinds of electronics manufacturing that we have to look at. Mobile phones are being sold in here. Then there are the set-top boxes, smart cards, etc. There is the emerging field of medical electronics. When the electronics companies start manufacturing in India, they make not only for Indians but for export also. Look at television industry, look at mobile telephony if we can succeed in these areas, we can also succeed in electronics manufacturing.
