India’s digital economy is expected to grow from the current $270 billion to around $1 trillion in the next 5-7 years, aided by the exponential growth witnessed in e-commerce, electronic manufacturing, IT services, financial technologies (FinTech), and telecom among others, Minister for Electronics and IT (MeitY) Ravi Shankar Prasad informed on Tuesday.
He said the government has roped in management consulting firm McKinsey to prepare a Digital India Index, which will evaluate the Centre and states on various key indices such as eHealth, eEducation, eGovernance and digital infrastructure. The digital economy, among others, will help the country align to its goals of expanding the economy as well as boost value addition and enhance jobs.
Elaborating on the growth projections, MeitY secretary Aruna Sundararajan said sectors such as communications, including telecom, IT services, eCommerce, FinTech and electronics manufacturing, are growing at a good pace, and in the coming years these sectors will expand further contributing to the country’s digital economic muscle.
Brushing aside reports of large-scale job losses in the IT-ITeS industry, Prasad said the job potential and prospects in the IT and related sectors are “very robust and promising”. That apart, the emerging and promising digital economy in the country is going to create a very powerful potential for job creation and the government’s stress on cyber security will lead to greater focus on innovation, the government said.
By Baishakhi Dutta
