The Indian government showed interest in developing a made-in-India operating system in the Parliament on Wednesday.?
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Reported first by the Press Trust of India, Minister of State For Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar revealed to the Parliament that no funds have been allocated by the government for developing the OS yet.?
Chandrasekar said that the development of the OS will be part of, ¡°the government¡¯s efforts to create a vibrant design and innovation ecosystem in Electronics and Information technology.¡±
When asked by Congress MP Karti P Chidambaram if the OS will be restricted to users in India, Chandrasekhar stated that as of now there is no government policy that would restrict the export and use of Indian software outside of India.?
The idea for creating an Indian version of iOS or Android was first shared in January by Chandrasekar. The idea was to create an alternative to Android and iOS -- the two most common smartphone OSes in the world.
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At the time, Chandrasekar had revealed that they were looking for capabilities within the startup and academic ecosystem for the development of a made-in-India operating system.?
"If there is some real capability then we will be very much interested in developing that area because that will create an alternative to iOS and Android which then an Indian brand can grow," Chandrasekar had then said.?
The timing for India to showcase its own OS couldn¡¯t have been more perfect as we¡¯re seeing India could have a billion smartphone users by 2026 with smartphone penetration skyrocketing in the rural areas.?
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The nation also looking to become the second-largest smartphone manufacturer globally. We¡¯re seeing more and more smartphones being developed and exported from India every year thanks to the lucrative PLI scheme.?
Moreover, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has shown the power US-based tech companies hold, with respect to shutting down their services towards Russian citizens.?
An indigenously-developed OS in such a scenario could offer more control, and not be subject to the shutdown of services with a shift in the political landscape.?
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