Information technology in India

Information technology in India is an industry consisting of two major components: IT services and business process outsourcing (BPO). The sector has increased its contribution to India's GDP from 1.2% in 1998 to 7.5% in 2012. According to NASSCOM, the sector aggregated revenues of US$147 billion in 2015, with export revenue standing at US$99 billion and domestic revenue at US$48 billion, growing by over 13%. India's current prime minister Narendra Modi has started a project called 'Digital India' to help secure IT a position both inside and outside of India.

India's IT Services industry was born in Mumbai in 1967 with the establishment of Tata Group in partnership with Burroughs. The first software export zone, SEEPZ – the precursor to the modern-day IT park – was established in Mumbai in 1973. More than 80 percent of the country's software exports were from SEEPZ in the 1980s.

The Indian economy underwent major economic reforms in 1991, leading to a new era of globalisation and international economic integration, and annual economic growth of over 6% from 1993–2002. The economic reforms were driven in part by significant internet usage in the country. The new administration under Atal Bihari Vajpayee (who was prime minister from 1998–2004) placed the development of Information Technology among its top five priorities and formed the Indian National Task Force on Information Technology and Software Development.

Wolcott & Goodman (2003) report on the role of the Indian National Task Force on Information Technology and Software Development:

Within 90 days of its establishment, the Task Force produced an extensive background report on the state of technology in India and an IT Action Plan with 108 recommendations. The Task Force could act quickly because it built upon the experience and frustrations of state governments, central government agencies, universities, and the software industry. Much of what it proposed was also consistent with the thinking and recommendanotions of international bodies like the World Trade Organization (WTO), International Telecommunications Union (ITU), and World Bank. In addition, the Task Force incorporated the experiences of Singapore and other nations, which implemented similar programs. It was less a task of invention than of sparking action on a consensus that had already evolved within the networking community and government.

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