5-point agenda for IT sector

Industry not constrained by demand but by the ability to deliver, says Som Mittal

President of Nasscom Som Mittal addressing journalists at The Hindu office in Chennai on Monday.

A yet-to-be released study by National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) shows that 95 per cent of the work done in the information technology sector happens in seven cities, and over 55 per cent of the workforce comes from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, said Som Mittal, President, Nasscom.

Speaking to journalists of The Hindu group of publications here on Monday, Mr. Mittal said the association wanted to involve more Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns in the development of the IT sector to make 40 per cent of the work take place in these towns.

“We plan to at least double the activity in Tier-2, Tier-3 towns and we have a 50-city programme that we will be implementing soon,” he said.

Commenting on the estimated trajectory of the IT sector, Mr. Mittal said the next ten years would see significant growth as the sector was not yet constrained by demand but only by the ability to deliver.

The fact that India was “under-invested” in IT would actually help the country as it could leapfrog technologies and become one of the leaders in cloud computing.

In the new scenario where the IT sector was stabilising after a rocky few years and was undergoing a transformational change, Nasscom would also be changing its role to look at the future of the sector.

He outlined a five-point agenda for the sector: developing beyond core markets, ensuring India was a stable and risk-free market, expanding technological access, developing talent, and accelerating India's future as a hub for innovation.

The interest shown by the Union Government in expanding its IT reach would play a useful role in achieving these targets, he said, referring to the e-governance agenda.

The association was also coming up with a portal to link all the developers of solutions for e-governance, he added.

The Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) segment was another important segment that the sector would have to look at, Mr. Mittal said. While the IT industry expanded to new geographies and new verticals, it would also have to look at the SME sector more deeply.