India will embark upon a third consecutive term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. BSA | The Software Alliance congratulates the National Democratic Alliance on their victory in the 2024 general elections and stands ready to build upon our efforts over the last 10 years to continue driving digital transformation and innovation in India.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has important work ahead, which includes building initiatives like the Digital India program and the IndiaAI Mission. Additionally, MeitY must focus on promoting digital inclusion and the digital economy by facilitating the growth of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), strengthening privacy and security policies, expanding access to training and re-skilling programs, and promoting investment in R&D.
Regulations that are clear, consistent, predictable, and consultative will foster trust in the digital ecosystem and help India achieve its goals of becoming a trillion-dollar digital economy by 2025, sustaining 60 to 65 million jobs, and safeguarding public interests and rights.
BSA has developed six policy recommendations to help the Modi administration realize these goals in the term ahead:
- Artificial Intelligence: BSA calls on the incoming government to advance policies that will help India realize the benefits of AI by proactively addressing its risks. Policy solutions that encourage global harmonization and reduce risk through AI governance practices help to ensure that AI is developed responsibly by focusing on high-risk uses and placing obligations on organizations based on their role within the AI ecosystem.
- Personal Data Protection: BSA supports balancing robust privacy protections with fostering innovation and economic growth. We recommend that MeitY provides a clear and reasonable transition period for businesses to comply with the 2023 Digital Personal Data Protection Act after the rules are finalized. Additionally, the government should continue to align the Act’s provisions with learnings from global privacy laws by permitting data processing based on legitimate interests and necessary contractual performance.
- Digital India Act (DIA): The DIA is an opportunity to modernize India’s IT Act and ensure its fitness for today’s digital economy. To achieve that goal — along with the government’s vision for an open, safe, trusted, and accountable internet — BSA recommends that the government ensure policy predictability, adopt a coherent policy approach, and recognize the distinct roles of different companies in the digital ecosystem, among others.
- Procurement: BSA recommends streamlining local content requirements for government software procurement. These requirements limit access to high-quality and specialized software services and products and undermine investments and employment generation, which together have the potential to hinder India’s digital transformation and weaken the foundation of the Digital India program.
- Cybersecurity: Cybersecurity is crucial for digital transformation and a resilient digital economy. BSA urges the government to consider policies that enhance software security, improve cybersecurity risk management, promote investment in modern information technology, harmonize laws based on best practices and internationally recognized standards, and invest in modern IT infrastructure and cybersecurity.
- Trade: Few countries have benefited more from open digital trade than India. Between 1995 and 2015, its share of global digital exports increased by 400 percent. Additionally, 60 percent of the country’s services exports are digital, and 50 percent of all exports come from micro-businesses and small- and medium-sized enterprises. As a result, India should consider a robust trade policy that plays to its strengths by emphasizing capabilities in technology and innovation and fostering collaboration and development with partners in free trade agreement negotiations and the G20. India should also avoid protectionist measures, like imposing customs requirements on software or data transmitted electronically, as this would impair local companies’ abilities to compete in global markets and disrupt India’s goal of becoming a leader for the Global South.
BSA looks forward to working with Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw and Minister of State in the MeitY Jitin Prasada to advance these priorities and support the development of an open, safe, trusted, and accountable digital ecosystem in India.