India’s Maiden Software Policy Aims To Create 10,000 Tech Startups, 3.5 Million Jobs By 2025

The government has issued the draft of the first ever National Software Policy aimed at projecting India as a leading global player in the creation, production and supply of innovative software. The policy, which is still a draft, aims to increase India’s share in the global software market by over 10-fold to estimated $148 billion (roughly Rs 1,01,394 lakh crore) and seeks to create employment opportunities for 3.5 million people by 2025.

The policy will "strive for a tenfold increase in the share of the global software product market by 2025 by promoting easy access to local domestic/international market for software product" and "create 3.5 million direct and indirect jobs by 2025", the draft said.

The policy is also focused at creating an environment that is conducive for the growth of 10,000 new and globally competitive IT startups in the country. The policy also has a provision for creating a specialised talent pool of 1,000,000 software professionals by 2025. The software product industry, which is estimated to be $411 billion globally, today, is expected to reach around $1 trillion by 2025. By promoting startups, India plans to have more horses in the race. The Indian software product industry currently accounts for as little as 1.48 per cent of the global market.

The policy suggests promotion of software products in sectors such as smart cities, healthcare, smart agriculture, e-learning and so on. It further suggests promoting the "usage of Indian software product industry in strategic sectors like defence, atomic energy , space, railways, telecommunication, power and healthcare etc."