India Public Policy on IT

Indian policy praxis in Information technology lasted till 1984, technically, before that the necessity of it was undermined and computers were imported randomly for institutional usage, despite the existence of the Electronics Corporation of India. Prioritizing development could not materialize due to the absence of policy on the industry. However, liberalization opened doors for the entry of technology, with dictates from the IMF that were part of the bail our program offered to India. Indian capabilities hogged into the limelight with the denial of Cray X MP supercomputer in 1987, due to the alleged possibility of dual usage in weapons technology. Advanced computing was becoming a necessity for Indian Space and nuclear programs, waking up to this need India shifted its priorities and C-DAC was provided with a budget of 375 million to develop an Indigenous supercomputing machine that consummated in Param 8000 in 1991, which was replicated and installed at ICAD Moscow also. In 2015 "National Supercomputing Mission" (NSM) was announced as a program by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology with the target to install more than 70 supercomputers across India by 2025 with a combined capacity of over 50 petaflops. By November 2024 total of 33 supercomputers with a combined computing capacity of 32 petaflops had been deployed in the country across various academic institutions, research organizations, and R&D labs, under NSM, with the commissioning of three PARAM Rudra supercomputers, in January 2025, the tally stands at 34 supercomputers with 35 Petaflops capacity, have been deployed and the mission has been extended for the year 2025.

In 1998, the Government of India declared “IT as India’s tomorrow” and proactively declared impacting initiatives to promote software companies in India. It appointed a task force to suggest policy measures and shifts to mainstream growth in software and manufacturing as well. Subsequent governments followed up on the measures initiated, leading to a quantum growth of exports in the sector from 2 billion to 50 billion USD in twelve years from 1998 to 2010. The first Policy document on IT services was codified and introduced as the Information Technology Act in the year 2000 by the Indian government, providing a basic legal framework for e-governance to be introduced in India, this was necessitated by the adoption of a model law on e-commerce to ensure uniformity in laws prevailing in different countries by United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAIL). The act secures provisions to provide legal sanctity to all E-transactions, electronic means of communication, providing an alternative to paper transactions, and allowing provisions for electronic filling of documents for all practical purposes of governance, and information storage. This act also prompted changes in the Indian Penal Code incorporating changes to the Evidence Act, RBI Act, and Bankers Books Act in India. An amendment following the act of 2000 came in 2008 primarily as an intervention to include what probably had been left out in the previous act including tightened cyber security laws, providing legality to digital/electronic signatures, cyber terrorism and cyber forensics, interception, monitoring and decryption of electronic data and regulating intermediaries were incorporated into the ambit of this act.

The manufacturing and software industry was progressing, the IT sector entered a booming phase, and metros and select industries benefitted from these initiatives, still, the Indian grassroots was devoid of such facilities and inclusion seemed absent; in disseminating IT services and initiating inclusion at an enhanced level, Government of India formulates certain milestone policies impacting the population and economic growth at large. National Cyber Security policy in 2013, Digital India in 2015, National Supercomputing Mission in 2015, National Cloud Initiative Meghraj.

National Cybersecurity Policy happens to be the first comprehensive policy document on cyber security, updated in 2017 and 2020, to upscale, and address, the emerging challenges to the cybersecurity environment in India. The policy of 2013 aimed at creating a cybersecurity regulatory framework, involving amending and establishing legal frameworks to be aligned with the policy, and technical frameworks to protect data and systems and to mitigate operational risks and protection of critical infrastructure. The policy resulted in establishing the National Critical Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIP)to secure information and systems, including a cybersecurity framework to ensure observance of best practices and standards prevailing in the industry, to promote Research and development, encourage Public-Private partnerships for effective management, enhance capacity building and skill development. This policy succeeds in creating a foundation for further developments in this sector.

  National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), formulated the cybersecurity Strategy document for 2020, aimed at further augmenting security against constantly evolving threats and creating a safe and secure cyber environment for businesses, citizens, and government alike. Law enforcement was strengthened for the detection, prevention, and investigation of criminals by amending the legal framework and aligning best practices with international trends and law.   Protection of Critical Information Systems (CII) in sectors like defence, banking, energy, and telecommunications was ensured by establishing quick and adequate incident response and regular risk assessments for vulnerable segments. Established NCIIPC, CERT-In, and CII to strengthen governance, introducing cybersecurity as a part of the school and higher education curricula to promote skill development through certification and research and development of technologies.

 Digital India 2015, initiative is a visionary program for societal empowerment through the delivery of digital services across the horizon bearing transformative effects across the country.  National Identity Project Aadhar became the starting point and the basis of the creation of digital infrastructure across the country, starting with data centres, including high-speed broadband networks and extending to cloud computing, The workforce driving this change came under Digital Literacy Mission and skill development, digital payments under Unified Payments Interface  (UPI), Aadhar liked payment facility including mobile wallets, and delivery of government benefits through Direct Benefit Transfer in Beneficiary bank Accounts only, financial inclusion provided under Prime Minister Jan-Dhan Yojna bank accounts and PMGDISHA to impart digital literacy and Bharat Net to provide internet services in rural areas to enhance inclusion. Governance and services received transparency under digital India the e-Governance initiatives, e-District, Digital Locker, and MyGov have enhanced access to services and availability of data in digital form accessible from Android devices as well. Public-private partnerships were encouraged, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) collaborated with Google to launch the ‘Build for Digital India’ program for market-ready, technology-based solutions. MeitY also collaborated with Amazon Web Services (AWS) for quantum computing applications and quantum computing-driven research & development to enable new scientific discoveries. Private sector companies like #Google #Amdocs, #Cognizant, #Intel, #Microsoft, and #Zensar Technologies to establish NDLM (National Digital Literacy Mission) centers to facilitate digital literacy training in India.

The National Supercomputing Mission is working to deliver the identified objectives, but progress is hampered by the slow pace of funds usage under the program. Despite achieving key milestones and indigenization, India needs to work more efficiently to achieve the status of a self-reliant knowledge economy (Atmanirbhar Bharat) guided by the Make in India vision. The key industries that benefitted from this development include Big Data Analytics, defence and security applications, aerospace Large Complex system simulations, weather and climate predictions, Seismic and disaster simulations, nanomaterials computational biology and the list goes endless due to its usage in almost all industries cutting across verticals.

National Cloud Initiative Meghraj is an ambitious project of the Government of India focusing on the delivery of E-services in the country, aimed at optimizing the expenditure made in the segment and fast track development while using Software as a service (SaaS), Platforms as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Cloud Policy of 2018 was adopted to capitalize on technology and promote the usage of cloud technologies in India, encouraging cloud adoption by Government bodies and Ministries to enhance efficiency and be aligned with digital India. The data residence issue was also addressed deciding that the data has essentially to reside within the physical boundaries of India, Public-private partnerships were to be the basis of the cloud initiatives in India, and the National cloud ‘Meghraj’. The policy focus is on providing guidelines and regulations for government cloud platforms and private platforms ensuring data protection and transparency, national and State clouds, empaneling service providers and auditors, and creating a conducive ecosystem for the cloud alongside having a Meghraj directory as well.  

To conclude Indian public policy on IT aims to promote the usage of technology in daily life alongside impacting economic growth, GDP, and exports, establishing a knowledge economy that India has always been and termed as the cradle of civilization, e-governance has enhanced accessibility by reducing associated costs and has promoted equitable access to technology, using IT as a tool to empower marginalized and rural economies, providing IT services, reduced data costs have increased access, manufacturing and service industries are upscaling, overall a positive societal and economic impact. Policy analysis assumes significance as it empowers organizations to make well-informed decisions, manage change, and formulate strategies for the impending change management well in time