Vaishnaw said the three big pillars of the digital economy like electronics manufacturing, IT and ITes, startups have created over 88 lakh direct jobs.
“We should be easily crossing 1 crore jobs in the coming two years without any doubt,” he said while inaugurating the National Level Start-up Initiative organized by the Software Technology Park of India (STPI) and Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC).
The minister said that over the last eight years, India has become a technology producer rather than being a mere consumer of it.
“We are the second biggest manufacturer of mobile phones now,” he said. “The electronics manufacturing sector has created 25-30 lakh direct jobs, IT services have crossed 55 lakh jobs and the startup sector has contributed 8 lakh jobs.”
Vaishnaw highlighted the determination of the country to emerge as the technology leader bolstered by the country’s talent pool, ingenuity, high level of computer literacy, and commitment to excel.
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“We have now an ecosystem that gives importance to merit and talent, that can power innovations and disruptions,” he said.
The IT minister also said that the manufacturing segment is witnessing a lot of innovations, particularly in the mobile phone system where India has become a major exporter now as against a net importer a few years ago.
“It’s a marvelous achievement which we are trying to emulate in other segments including railways, chemicals, power and semiconductor” he said, adding that a lot of R&D efforts are currently underway to fasttrack technological excellence in various segments.
Diversity is another trend that is discernible now, the Minister said. This is achieved by digitally connecting tier 2 and 3 cities so that entrepreneurship can be nurtured from these cities to widen the bandwidth of the development.
“Of the 64 digital hubs that have been implemented, 54 are in small cities and towns, which will have a remarkable impact on the proliferation of start-ups in the country,” Vaishnaw said.
