Digital India a $1-trillion business opportunity: Prasad
31 Mar 2016
The government's Digital India initiative is a $1 trillion (Rs66,33,500 crore) business opportunity across IT and IT-enabled services, telecom and electronics manufacturing, communications minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in Mumbai on Wednesday.
"Nearly $400 billion (Rs26,53,400 crore) will be added from electronics manufacturing, including mobile phones, solar panels etc, while a $350 billion (Rs23,21,800 crore) opportunity will be presented by the IT and ITeS sector," the minister said at the inauguration of a Ficci-Frames 2016 Media & Entertainment Industry Conclave.
"The aspirational urge of Indians is driving the digital world in a phenomenal way. And the government's job is to create an enabling ecosystem for its growth," he said. "If industry needs more policy initiatives, the government is open to it," he added.
Internet penetration has reached 400 million in India, 60 per cent of it being mobile internet.
He also said India with one billion mobile phone connections has overtaken the US to become the second largest mobile phone market in the world behind China.