Advertisment

Convergence Bill to be introduced in monsoon session

author-image
DQW Bureau
New Update





Advertisment

The much-awaited Convergence Bill might see the day of light in the coming monsoon

session. Pramod Mahajan, Union Minister for Information Technology and

Parliamentary Affairs, revealed this. He was speaking at the inaugural session

of the e-commerce report released by CII -E-commerce in India: How to make it

happen- in Mumbai.

He further stated that on July 11 GOT-IT (group of ministers on information

technology and telecom) would hold meeting to finalize the draft of the

Convergence Bill. He also revealed

the disagreements that exist among the members of the GOT-IT over introducing

licensing system into some sectors of the IT industry. However, he hoped that

the bill to get passed in the next budget Session.

Commenting on the E-commerce Mahajan said that the developed world would fully revolve

around e-commerce making it an inevitable ingredient of the future economy.

Advertisment

Mahajan complimented the CII National Committee on E-Commerce under the Chairmanship of

Lalita Gupte for putting together a set of pragmatic and practical suggestions

in the form of an action oriented report.

Mahajan assured that he would take cognizance of the several suggestions and measures

put forth in the report and submit an Action Taken Report (ATR) within the next

two months on behalf of the IT Ministry specially on issues relating to the

laying down of the security infrastructure for E-Commerce. In addition, the

Minister also assured that he would forward copies of the CII Report to the

concerned ministries like Information & Broadcasting, Communication, Law,

Finance and also the Prime Minister's Office.

Gupte,Joint Managing Director and COO, ICICI said the Indian E-Commerce scenario is at

the threshold of rapid change and development and unless appropriate actions are

taken India will not be able to reap the immense benefits of the digital

revolution. She mentioned that the

report was drawn on the expertise of several CEOs, CIOs and members from various

segments.

Advertisment

The report suggests the need for a partnership approach between Industry and

Government in order to create a conducive policy environment for e-enabling

India. It also seeks to promote the application of e-commerce to SMEs and the

government.

The Building blocks for enabling e-commerce as identified by the report are

Communication Infrastructure, Payment and Taxation, Security Infrastructure, and

E-Governance.

Sanjiv Goenka, President, CII mentioned some of the new initiatives which CII has

recently undertaken to spearhead the IT industry. The Customer Connect Program

to assist software and services companies to access markets across the world,

being one such initiative.

As a part of this, roadshows involving top IT companies will be held shortly in New

York and Washington, said Goenka in which the CII team will be led by the Union

IT Minister, Pramod Mahajan.

Advertisment