April 2015: On the fourth day, as the Partner Country at Hannover Messe 2015, India focused on Indio-German collaboration on Digital India. Experts in the domain from both India and Germany participated in an in-depth discussion on the opportunities that India presents in its journey to become a digitally empowered nation.
The Seminar on Digital India was jointly organised by CII, Department of Electronics and IT (DeitY), Ministry of Communications & Information technology, Government of India and ZVEI – German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association. It explored the approaches of how government and industry can partner to implement the “Digital Presence” on the ground by creation of compelling digital strategies and services and how emerging trends and technology imperatives can impact the lives of its citizen. Favoured with government policies, burgeoning market for local consumer electronics and telecom products and availability of skilled labour, there is a renewed thrust to attract investments to boost the Indian EDMS (electronic document management system) industry.
R S Sharma, Secretary, Department of Electronics and IT (DeitY), Ministry of Communications & Information technology, Government of India and UWE Beckmeyer, Parliamentary State Secretary, German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy was present at the Opening Session.
Speaking to an audience comprising members of both Indian and German industry, Rajendran Kumar, Joint Secretary, Department of Electronics and IT (DeitY), Ministry of Communications & Information technology, Government of India shared the vision of Digital India. He reiterated the areas where there are opportunities for India and Germany to collaborate towards India’s aim to provide access to broad band to every citizen, ensuring the cyberspace is made safe and secure, integrated services and digital empowerment of Indian citizens.
The Seminar looked at International Best Practices and Case Studies of implementation of a transformative digitisation campaign that has ensured reach of citizen-centric services to the masses.
Speaking at the Seminar, R Chandrashekhar, President, Nasscom said, “Disruptive technology, social media, mobility, cloud and Internet of Things etc will be needed to build solution at a price point which makes sense in India.” He shared the example of how price point facilitated the mobile revolution in India.
Highlighting the opportunities to collaborate, he said, “There are 27 German companies in India in the IT sector. All of these companies are doing cutting edge work in India. Therefore, as India aims at Make in India and Germany at Industry 4.0; utilising the huge base of German companies is a great opportunity to move forward.” He further added that Nasscom will be launching a German Council consisting of all German companies in India next week.
Applauding India’s e-governance efforts, Franz-Josef Schuermann, Country Head-Germany, Infosys said, “Germany can learn from some of India’s large scale projects for the people.” Referring to Government of India’s programmes for its citizens he said, “India is moving in supersonic speed in implementation of many of the programmes and India is leap frogging when compared to Germany in areas of mobile payment, e- governance and in the scale of UID.”
During the panel discussions, Rakesh Garg, Chairman, Telecom Commission and Secretary, Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Government of India spoke about the relevance of the National Knowledge Network. He said, “It has connected 1038 research laboratories and other institutions of higher learning through a broadband network.” He further added that the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) launched by the Government of India will become the backbone of the Digital India programme. NOFN is the world’s largest rural broadband connectivity project through optical fibre. “The objective is to ensure that every citizen is digitally literate. The Government of India is targeting one person is each family,” he said.
Further during the day, CII organised a seminar on “Investment Opportunities in Rajasthan” highlighting investment opportunities in auto, ceramics, energy, IT and electronics in the State. Gajendra Singh, Minister of Industries, Government of Rajasthan addressed the Seminar and Abhay Kumar, Commissioner, Industries, Government of Rajasthan.
The day concluded with with a seminar showcasing “Investment Opportunities in Uttar Pradesh“ organised by FICCI. The Seminar saw key people from the industry and Government of Rajasthan including Alok Ranjan, Chief Secretary, Government of Uttar Pradesh and Mahesh Kumar Gupta, Principal Secretary, Infrastructure and Industrial Development Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh.
