India's digital economy is growing at 2.8 percent per annum and is expected to reach USD 1 trillion by 2027–28, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said at an outreach programme.
The minister further said the value of the IndiaAI mission will be doubled to Rs 20,000 crore from Rs 10,000 crore.
The government earlier expected India to reach the USD 1 trillion mark by 2026–27, but the target has been moved by a year due to various reasons, including the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
"The digital economy is growing at a rate of 2.8 percent because of the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His vision laid down in 2015 has played out well. We are already the fastest-growing digital economy in the world. We are aiming to have a USD 1 trillion digital economy by 2027–28," Chandrasekhar said.
He was speaking at "Vishesh Sampark Abhiyan" on Monday evening at Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri's official residence. The event was attended by leaders of about 300 IT companies, startups, and the technology industry.
The minister said the prime minister has already approved Rs 1 lakh crore as a seed fund, which will be invested in research and development for fuel innovation and the India AI mission with a total value of Rs 20,000 crore.
The cabinet has approved only around Rs 10,000 crore for the India AI mission, but the minister said the total value is about Rs 20,000 crore, "including some other factors that cannot be disclosed at the moment.".
"One of the big things that he (the prime minister) has done is to take these young Indians and make them globally competitive and become globally talented entrepreneurs that the world today respects," he said.
The minister said the main ask of the technology industry is that they want the momentum of development to continue.
"There are many, many more things to be done to continue this growth, including access to capital, a lower cost of capital, issues of customs, and duties for manufacturing. These are all things on the government's radar.
"We are very determined to make sure that the momentum continues. The Indian innovation ecosystem continues to grow and will become one of the leading innovation ecosystems in the world," Chandrasekhar said.
He said every Indian will have an internet connection and will be fully digitally empowered as part of the Prime Minister's vision for Digital India launched in 2015.
