Government Unveils National Software Policy; Eyes 3.5 Million Jobs by 2025

Government has issued the draft of first ever National Software Policy with an aim to increase share of Indian software products in global market by 10-fold to estimated $148 billion (roughly Rs. 1,01,394 lakh crores) and create employment opportunity for 3.5 million people by 2025.

The policy will "strive for a tenfold increase in 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 software product industry is estimated to be $411 billion globally today and is expected to reach around $1 trillion by 2025.

"However, in India the software product industry is still in its infancy stage. The total revenue of software product industry in India is $6.1 billion (roughly Rs. 41,876 crores), out of which $2 billion is from exports," the draft said.

As per the estimates, the Indian software product industry accounts for 1.48 percent of global market and government's mission to increase it by 10 fold will take it to $148 billion by 2025.

The IT Industry in India is around $143 billion and is expected to grow to $350 billion by 2025, as per industry body Nasscom.

The draft policy aims to create conducive environment for creation of 10,000 technology startups to develop software products that are globally competitive and thereby generating a direct and in-direct employment for 3.5 million persons.

"The policy targets to achieve a goal of creation of 1,000,000 jobs by 2017, and additional 2,500,000 by 2025," the draft said.

According to the draft policy, the government has promised that it will create an "enabling framework for inclusion of Indian software product in government procurement" and promote their usage "in strategic sectors like Defence, Atomic Energy, Space, Railways, Telecommunication, power and healthcare etc".

Among various measures, the government aims to leverage the start-up India initiative under the proposed policy to ensure ease of business and to address concerns that may be specific to the software product industry through an Inter-Ministerial Coordination Group.

The draft policy has provision to create a specialised talent pool of 1,000,000 professionals by 2025 conversant with nuances of software product development that can support the growth of software product industry.