Happy Independence Day: journey from zero to peak in technology

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Prabhat Sinha

Our country has completed 75 glorious years of independence. In the last 75 years, our country has become one of the leading countries of the world by achieving proper development in various fields, directions and fields. Development in information technology and technology is notable among the major areas of phenomenal growth. On the strength of technology and information technology, in the year 2022, India will rank third in the world after America and China in terms of capital investment. Our country’s startup ecosystem has become the third largest startup ecosystem in the world with more than 60000 startups. This is the reason why the description of the gradual progress of technology and information technology in India during the time of independence becomes relevant.

Early life and important events

In 1965, a revision of immigration laws in the United States made it easier for Indian professionals to migrate to the US for research. NRIs played a key role in the success of the IT revolution in the US and the much-anticipated Silicon Valley during the 80s and 90s. Due to the booming technology sector in the United States, the demand for IT professionals from outside had started increasing. India had a large population of educated, English speaking technically sound people, hence IT outsourcing in our country continued to grow.

The IT industry in India formally started with the establishment of Tata Consultancy Services in the year 1967 in Mumbai. TCS started software services by developing punch card facilities for Tata Steel employees. In the year 1973, the first software export zone ‘Santacruz Electronic Export Processing Unit’ (Seepz) was established in Mumbai. TCS started exporting IT services from India in 1977 by partnering with Burroughs Corporation, a renowned American business equipment manufacturer. In the 1980s, more than 80 percent of the country’s software exports came from SEEPZ.

Azim Premji became the chairman of the famous organization Wipro in the year 1966 and only a few years later he focused on IT service. Patni Computer Systems started providing software manufacturing and IT services since the inception of the company in 1972. At that time its name was Data Conversion Inc. In 1981, Narayana Murthy and his associates founded Infosys, an organization renowned for providing quality software services.

The Center for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) was established in August 1984 to develop state-of-the-art telecommunication technology and meet the requirements of the Indian telecom network. In the mid-1980s, rapid technological progress was encouraged in the country by imposing import quotas and reducing tariffs on computers, airlines, defense and telecommunications. At the same time, the foundation of modernization of Indian Railways was laid after the introduction of computerized railway tickets.

Important events after liberalization

Due to the control of the government in the private business sector, the Indian technology business sector could not achieve anything special till the year 1991. The first multidimensional IT reform was the creation of a corporation called ‘Software Technology Parks of India’ (STPI) by the Department of Electronics, Government of India. STPI started providing VSAT communication to affiliated institutions. Along with this, STPI established Software Technology Parks in various cities, from where it was possible to get satellite links to the institutions. In 1993, the government allowed special links to companies, so that the work done in the country could be directly broadcast abroad.

Making Internet available to the general public on August 15, 1995 by VSNL also proved to be a milestone in the development of technology in the country. In the year 1995 itself, Microsoft made the use of computer easy for the common consumer by introducing the Windows operating system. The following year in 1996, Rediff opened India’s first cyber cafe in Mumbai. ICICI Bank started online banking in the year 1997. In 1998, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) was established to promote the country’s information technology and BPO industries, allowing private Internet service provider companies.

In the year 1999, Railway Reservation System was added across the country. The year 2000 was a landmark year for technological development, with sites such as Cable Internet, Yahoo, eBay and MSN being launched. In the year 2002, the online booking system of airlines was started. The famous company Google opened its office in India in 2004. BSNL started broadband services in the year 2004 itself. 2G spectrum was auctioned in 2008, 3G in 2009 and WiMAX in 2010. In 2012, Bharti Airtel became the first operator to offer dongle-based 4G services. In 2016, free Wi-Fi services were made available at railway stations.

In the year 2019, the total number of Internet users in the country exceeded 500 million. In the year 2020, the number of internet users reached 749 million in Kovid lockdown. New technology based services like Ed-Tech and OTT started. In the year 2023, the country is preparing to play a leading role in the development of 6G, the next generation of wireless technology.

Notable Government Policies

The availability of infrastructure became easier with the New Telecom Policy, 1999 (NTP, 1999). Rapid growth in the telecom sector became possible with the permission of the private sector to enter satellite, tower and other telecom related business. The Information Technology Act, 2000 provided legal recognition to electronic documents, digital signatures and made laws for offenses and violations. Today our country has emerged as the forerunner of Fintech. The foundation of Fintech in the country was laid in 2009 with the establishment of two institutions, the National Payment Corporation of India and the Unique Identity Authority of India.

In the year 2010, the unique identity card was started for the countrymen. In 2012, UIDAI made it easier for businessmen to verify the consumer by providing the facility of EQYC. In 2015, CCI introduced e-Sign API to facilitate digital signature for Aadhaar holders. In this sequence, in 2016, the world’s best digital public payment system UPI was launched by NPCI, which proved to be a revolutionary step. In the same year, the National e-Governance Directorate (NeGD), an organization of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, also made the services of DigiLocker available to the general public to ensure digital verification of documents and certificates in a quick and effective manner.

Achievements and Prospects

Overall, we have traveled from zero to peak in the technical field in 75 years after independence. Today India has emerged as the largest exporter of IT. Today, the CEOs of the world’s most successful companies are citizens of Indian origin. The contribution of the IT sector to India’s GDP increased from 1.2 per cent in 1998 to 10 per cent in 2019. By the year 2025, India’s digital economy is estimated to reach 1 trillion US dollars.

Not only this, the Indian Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) industry is expected to grow 6.5 times from $23.5 billion to reach $152 billion by 2025. India’s share in global electronics manufacturing has increased from 1.3 percent in 2012 to 3.6 percent in 2019. According to Nasscom and McKinsey reports, India’s technology services industry could reach over $300 billion in annual revenue by 2025 by leveraging the business potential in emerging technologies.

(The author is a columnist, Amazon bestseller and co-founder of Intelligence IT.)

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