The Union ministry for information technology and communications is setting up a separate task force to stimulate the growth of the Indian hardware industry and compliment the booming software sector.

Information Technology Minister Arun Shourie told the media in Bangalore on Monday that the task force would be constituted with leaders from the industry who have achieved a high rate of success in hardware production.

"The ministry is ready to do whatever for promoting the hardware industry. Though India has missed the bus to China and Taiwan earlier, all is not lost, as there is an immense potential for its exponential growth," Shourie remarked.

The minister was briefing the media after holding a series of meetings earlier in the day with captains of the IT industry in Bangalore, including Wipro czar Azim Premji and Infosys director Mohandas Pai.

Assuring government support to the hardware sector, especially on infrastructure facilities and speedy custom clearances for exports and imports, Shourie suggested that the industry leaders should talk to overseas firms and convince them that India too could have world class manufacturing facilities for electronic and ICT products.

"The ministry is awaiting suggestions from the sector on what we need to do to remove the bottlenecks and facilitate its faster growth. A draft paper has been circulated to leading industrialists in this field.

"Instead of coming out with a bureaucratic set of terms or rules, we prefer to wait for their concrete suggestions to draw a framework, with a time-bound implementation program," Shourie disclosed.

With the services industry emerging as the main driver of economic growth, the success stories of India's software and telecom sectors can be replicated even in the hardware industry by leveraging the enormous natural and human resources of the country.

"After all, software runs on hardware. To keep pace with its phenomenal growth, especially in the IT-enabled and BPO services segment, the hardware industry should measure up to meet the growing demand.

"The growth and localisation of the consumer electronic goods' manufacturing with the entry of overseas players such as LG, Samsung and Sony is a candid proof of India's domain expertise in moving up the value chain to take up even hardware production on a mass scale," Shourie asserted.

Recalling the contribution of late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in ushering the PC revolution across the country, Shourie said since then computer has become the modern-day charka (spinning wheel) of Mahatma Gandhi, and a multiple tool for productivity and delivery of multiple services.

"A gamut of services will drive the manufacturing sector, including the hardware sector as IT and telecom will continue to pervade every sphere of activity and bridge the digital divide," Shourie affirmed.

Turning to the software sector, the ICT minister said the ministry was taking up the protectionist and visa measures with those nations where Indian software professionals were facing job backlash.

Indian embassies and consulates have been directed to assist Indian firms in resolving the protectionist and visa issues by talking to the respective governments and companies.

"The success of our young software industry has stirred a hornet's nest in those countries as far as outsourcing IT requirements from India is concerned. The fact that they are threatening to take up protection measures only goes to prove that the Indian industry is matured and strong enough to rattle their future prospects," Shourie stated.

The IT industry has also changed the world's perception of India as a land of high-tech skills, extraordinary work culture and self-reliance in the knowledge domain.

If the hardware sector catches up with its software counterpart, then biotechnology and nano-technology will be the next leap towards making India a developed country.

"The convergence of ICT technologies will unleash tremendous opportunities to expand the portfolio to include outsourcing of healthcare, legal and accounting services the world over," Shourie claimed.

The minister also announced that small and medium enterprises under the Software Technology Park of India would be given 50 per cent concession in the service charges levied for the bandwidth connectivity.

Hardware industry leaders to attract investment

The Indian hardware industry leaders will now act as business ambassadors for the country, representing its manufacturing industry and attract foreign investment in the sector, Shourie said.

"The industry leaders who have succeeded in hardware can champion the cause and woo investors," Shourie told reporters in Bangalore.

"If I meet foreign companies, it will be difficult, but industry leaders can convince foreign investors that it is possible to have great manufacturing potential in India," Shourie said.

Additional inputs: PTI