The domestic market of India will be marketed by the Ministry (IT). Convener-HW SIG and vice-chairman to visit Penang (Malaysia), China, etc., to work out the plan for Marketing of India as IT HW site of preference.

Using the HRD strategy behind the success of SW and services sector growth, ‘India Inc.’ will accelerate and fund high-quality yet rapid training of HR from the talented pool of 1.5 lakh JEE passers/year, in disciplines of micro-electronics engineering, opto-electronics, communication/DSP, embedded software, etc., in order to foster Internet-based delivery of design services, refurbishing services, IP, mechanical/chemical/architecture engineering services, etc. Initially wafer fabrication to be outsourced; later it could be also attracted in the country.

Chip design and manufacturing companies like MAXIM, INTEL, which have already shown some interest in locating a plant in India (AP, TN, Delhi) be carefully cultivated with ‘out of the ordinary’ assurances on mission-critical needs like trained manpower, quality power (20 MW), four-hour customs clearance and assured transportation services for becoming global suppliers.

A MoF and MIT to jointly review all taxation and tariff and customs regimes to remove irritants and speed-breakers to ensure that all collections are done without slowing down any transactions (a la excise collection) and that the total government (state and center) revenue from imported product (say printer of price x) is more than the total government revenue from domestic product (say, the same printer of price x). Once the tariff rates are set, all collections on hardware be collected not at the point of sale but when revenue is generated by hardware manufacturers.

B Remove all controls; facilitate level-playing field for Indian players in all segments of IT, letting only market dynamics shape decisions by entrepreneurs relating to investments in any activity in the IT industry.

5. MIT to champion the reversing of the declining trend in percentage of R&D grants given by MIT and other departments to private industry (from 25 percent to 14 percent), through large-impact technology missions roadmaps like Rs 360 crore India Wireless Initiative (WDB), India Engineering Services Delivery Initiative, etc. For achieving a technology leadership (vs followership) position in niche areas, the government funding to private industries/universities will have to be more upfront, on pre-competitive technology, IP, etc., to be followed by industry funded productionization, manufacturing process and marketing expenditure, all within a pre-agreed scenario (like Rs 360 crore Wireless Initiative). Major R&D grants be announced in media to encourage wider bidding by private and PSU players, instead of these going to only known universities and R&D labs.

A conscience-keeper HW-SIG sub-committee be empowered to avoid/discourage tender specifications in govt’s purchases/contracts which are (motivatedly) slanted towards MNCs or particular vendors, to unfairly disadvantage the local technology development like CorDECT, CDOT, NHVDC, IWI.

Since two-three percent of each ministry/state govt’s budget is already earmarked for IT-ization expenditure, the Minister (IT) should spearhead a policy of zero-based business process engineering (BPR) and digital-components (not mere PCs) integration in agriculture, mining, power, railway, or water management sectors. The purpose is to accelerate IT HW demand and to ensure sectoral productivity enhancement instead of mere computerization. The actual expenditure of 3 percent target be reviewed every six months at the minister’s level.

Just as clustering and specialization has occurred internationally, with Singapore having HDD, Japan having printers, Taiwan having motherboards, etc., even Indian IT-savvy states (govt-industry forums) need to formulate HW clustering plans and policies, based on comparative advantages.