IT Minister Urges Startups To Make Indian Apps, Stop Use Of Foreign Apps
He said this at a conference organised by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
This week started with a bang when the Indian government went ahead and banned 59 Chinese apps including TikTok after receiving complaints about security concerns from these apps.
And yesterday, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad stated that India must work on creating ¡®made in India¡¯ apps rather than being dependent on foreign apps.
PTI
Reported first by PTI, he said this at a conference organised by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, which was organised to commemorate five years of 'Digital India' programme.
Made in India apps
He said in a statement, "In wake of the ban which we have imposed, I don't want to go into details of it ... emergency power has been exercised and legal process is being followed. The dependence on these foreign apps with their own agenda for a variety of reasons must stop.¡±
¡°But I think it is a great opportunity, can we come up with good apps made by Indians. This would also offer a big scope for Public-Private Partnership.¡±
He added, "I don't have the slightest doubt that if we take this as an opportunity that India will become a big centre of 'Made in India apps' with all the segmented requirements which we have. If we start thinking on those lines, it is all doable."
Giving examples of Indian tech icons like Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys, Debjani Ghosh, President at NASSCOM and others, he tried to encourage young developers to create ¡®Made in India¡¯ apps, stating, ¡°they are quite capable of doing so...I think there is tremendous intellectual capability, tech imaginative faculty available to do so.¡±
He also revealed that India has seen a considerable rise in India¡¯s app economy and he thinks that India can easily achieve a digital economy target of $ 1 trillion.
Broadband through landline
Along with this, Prasad also spoke about getting the Cabinet to soon agree on a policy for providing broadband internet through landline in regions that are deprived of internet connectivity.
Reuters
He explained, "India is still the biggest centre of landline but they are largely untapped. So I have decided to go to the cabinet soon with all the details so that there is a proper policy in place for providing Broadband through the landline."
