Prime Minister Narendra Modi commended the IT sector here on Sunday and urged young engineers to help move India to the status of an innovation hub instead of merely being a great client for the world's biggest companies.
"Why didn't Google originate in India? We have no dearth of talent. The Government will provide the necessary infrastructure if the sector continues to innovate," he said during a speech peppered with personal anecdotes at a NASSCOM event.
The Prime Minister praised the IT industry stating that it had changed the West's perception of India while highlighting that the quest for a 'Digital India' needed to include all citizens. Modi also pointed out that cyber security was an emerging issue and hoped that the new IT graduates could help alleviate this problem.
"Everyone's worried about cyber security. Can India's youngsters help the world sleep peacefully at night? It's the need of the times, can the industry evolve a taskforce to tackle this problem?" he asked, adding that 'cloud godowns' and 'cloud lockers' would soon be an emerging trend and the domestic industry could capitalise on it provided it could assure cyber security.
"Whole banks and even Government departments will move from physical files to cloud storage," he believed.
The Prime Minister, on a lighter note, stated that the reason why the Indian IT sector had grown from about Rs.100 million in 1990 to Rs.146 billion today was due to the Government keeping away.
"Mobile banking and mobile governance are the ways forward. Even an astrologer or priest uses IT's help today. Kids now only have one guru - Google. This is how the sector has taken root and just how many possibilities there are can be seen," said Modi.
He also highlighted the impact technology had on the coal block allocation and direct transfers of LPG subsidy in terms of promoting transparency, as well as the potential it held for the tourism industry.