Software, Hardware Industries to Partner for 'Digital India'

The partnership will create a major force in the Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) industry and the IT landscape to position India among top five economies in the next decade, top officials of the hardware and software industries associations told reporters here on Monday.

The partnership between the software and hardware representative bodies - the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) and India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA) - is aimed at making India a leading player in the IT and ESDM space over the next decade, they said.

"The partnership will enable us to draw a common agenda to guide the industry and the government, frame policies and build an ecosystem for developing ESDM (hardware) and IT (software) products, solutions and brands," said IESA chairman Vinay Shenoy.

With electronics, computing and communication paradigms shifting at a faster pace and from mainframes to the new Internet of Things (IoT), hardware, software and services have converged.

The $120-billion IT industry has emerged as a global leader in building and delivering software and IT services and contributing nine percent to the country's national gross domestic product (GDP), while the ESDM market is projected to growth to $94 billion this year from $76 billion in 2013.

"The complimentary strengths of the software and hardware industries offer a huge opportunity to contribute to the country's economic development in the next decade and reduce foreign exchange outgo," Shenoy said.

As technology innovation requires electronics, computing and communications to converge and deliver a holistic solution to meet the industry demand, Nasscom and IESA will drive the 'Vision 2025' to enable hardware and software to jointly contribute 25 percent to the GDP.

"Smart cities, defence and IoT have been of interest for both of us. By joining, we are better able to address adevice-infrastructure-application' and the interplay between them," Shenoy said.

Nasscom president R. Chandrashekhar said India had evolved into a global powerhouse for delivering software and services for customers across geographies and verticals.

"In recognition of the transformative impact of IT on the economy and the government's vision of 'Make in India', we believe there is an equal opportunity for India to win the next wave of electronics design led manufacturing," said the former telecom secretary.

IESA president M.N. Vidyashankar said the partners would bring key stakeholders from industry, government, academia and investment community close and identify areas of investment to develop an ecosystem for solutions spanning hardware, software and services to meet local and global needs.