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.
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.
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.