Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Tuesday that there is a vast opportunity for e-commerce in India if the government is successful in rollout of its Digital India project.
“As Flipkart is growing so big, as we see the success of Alibaba and as we see the aspirational India evolving with great enthusiasm particularly in rural areas, I see a vast opportunity for e-commerce,” he said during the inauguration of the 10th national summit on E-governance & Digital India: Minimum Government, Maximum Governance organised by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).
The Minister explained that the Digital India program recognizes India’s great deficit in terms of broadband and it seeks to make digital infrastructure as a utility to every citizen, governance and service on demand and digital empowerment of citizens as the core elements in the program.
He cited poor rural telecom penetration of 44 percent and the need to increase coverage. In manufacturing, India also needs to catch up as importation is the less costly alternative.
“India is importing electronic goods worth USD100 billion every year, which is likely to cross over to USD400 billion by 2020 and the import bill will surpass the fuel import bill," he said, adding that the Ministry will lay the foundation for first electronics cluster in Madhya Pradesh in the first week of next month.
The government has also approved in principle the setting up electronics clusters in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Maharashtra and is talking to other states in this regard.