A task force of Nasscom (National Association of Software and Services Companies) will work exclusively on cyber security so that the Indian cyberspace is firewalled from attacks. Nasscom president R. Chandrashekar said the task force would be constituted in a month.

The move comes in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing concern over the country’s cyber security at an event held earlier this month.

“NASSCOM is on the job and will come up with a plan. In a month, the group working on the task force will be finalised,” said Mr. Chandrashekar, who was delivering the keynote address at the HYSEA (Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association) Annual Summit and Awards 2015 held in the city on Thursday.

‘Centres of Excellence’

He said Centres of Excellence, specialising in Internet of Things (IOT), would come up in five cities across the country. Each centre, to be set up in collaboration with the government, is expected to work on solutions on problems using IOT in various sectors like healthcare, agriculture and others, Mr. Chandrashekar said.

NASSCOM will also undertake a global campaign to attract overseas business and create awareness on Indian IT capabilities.

“62 per cent IT exports from our country are to the US and 17 per cent to UK. Almost 80 per cent of the businesses are with companies from these two countries that are well aware of what is happening here. It is necessary for newer markets like Japan, China and Europe to know about the industry. In the domestic market too, a lot of people are yet to be aware of the usage of technology in various fields,” he said.

Start-up country

With the country witnessing the emergence of more than 3,100 start-ups, Mr. Chandrashekar predicted that in two years’ time, India would be second largest start-up country, next only to the US.

In his presentation delivered earlier, the Nasscom chief said software exports revenue would grow 12.3 per cent in the financial year 2014-15, adding about 2.3 lakh jobs. In what can be a reflection of its growing importance, e-commerce segment contributed $14 billion to the sector in the fiscal.

T-Hub by June

Telangana IT secretary Harpreet Singh said the proposed incubator, T-Hub, would be complete by June and would have 800 seats.

“400 seats will be for the beginners. 200 for those who have prototyped their products and they will be given accelerator programmes. Another 20 firms with 200 seats will be for those whose products are ready for the market. This way, we want to cover all the three areas,” he said.

Mr. Singh said the Social, Media, Analytics and Cloud Services (SMAC) triggered by IOT will mark the onset of a second wave of IT growth in the country and Telangana Government was prepared for it. The two-day event concluded on Thursday with Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan presenting the annual industry awards in nine categories for the financial year 2013-14.

Almost 80% of the business is with companies from US and UK. It is necessary for newer markets like Japan, China and Europe to know about our industry. In the domestic market too, a lot of people are yet to be aware of the use of technology

R. Chandrashekar, President, National Association of Software and Services Companies

Source: TH