Key ICT Information

• India has about 10 to 12 million Internet users, 8 million cell phone users and a teledensity of just over 3 percent in a country with close to half the population hovering around the poverty line.
• India has more information workers than Japan and the same number as the USA.
• India's media industry reaches 180 million readers, 384 million television viewers and 189 million radio listeners.
• Indian state and federal governments are likely to spend about US$890 million in 2001-2002 towards e-government, according to the National Software and Services Association (NASSCOM).
• The state of Tamil Nadu is also making notable progress in online citizen services in Tamil and English languages, especially Web-based information such as land records, birth and death certificates, subsidy schemes, geographical information systems (GIS), college admission forms and examination results.
• The Indian software and services industry has mushroomed from US$50 million in 1988-89 to US$3.9 billion in 2000-2001, over half of it in exports to countries like the USA.
  
• India's software sector accounts for close to 325,000 employees, and at least 55,000 new workers are needed each year to meet existing levels of demand.
• Indian software exports have risen from US$100 million in 1990 to US$5 billion in 2000. Software currently accounts for over 2 percent of GDP, and is set to cross the 10 percent threshold by 2010.
• India will have to produce over 2.2 million high-quality knowledge workers in software-related areas by 2008.
• The total size of the call centre services market in Asia Pacific will grow to over US$4 billion by 2005 from US$1.2 billion in 2000. Out of this, the India-based call centre services market is pegged at US$200 million and is expected to cross US$1 billion in around five years. More than 100 call centres have been granted licences by the Department of Telecommunications. In India, this industry employs over 35,000 professionals.

Initiatives

• Drishtee has set up 90 Internet kiosks across five Indian states as part of the rural ICT infrastructure, providing government information and market prices.
• In the state of Maharashtra, site of a severe earthquake in 1993, a GIS-based disaster management information system has been rolled out to improve resource mobilisation, decision-making and situation monitoring.
• The M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation is developing "knowledge centres" in south Indian villages to help ensure food security. The project includes local language content and wireless Internet access.
• World Links has announced its plans to bridge the digital divide in India by training secondary school teachers in 125 Indian schools in the classroom application of IT. It will also provide school connectivity, basic computer literacy, and professional development training to teachers.
• The bilingual CARD (Computer-Aided Administration of Registration Department) initiative is spread over 200 locations in the state and has helped create a more transparent and less corruptible system of property valuation.
• The Warana Wired Village project covers 70 villages around Maharashtra's Warana River and provides a network of kiosks for information services in agriculture, medicine and education.
• Software and training institute NIIT pioneered an innovative "Hole in the Wall" experiment to expose children living in slums to the Internet. This initiative of IT training via "technical emergence" of Internet browsing skills has received US$1.3 million in funding from the World Bank.

Source: Digital Review for Asia Pacific