Bangalore: MAIT, the apex body actively representing IT Hardware sector, organized a Socialisation Workshop on “India Market Place: IT the unrealized potential.”

Inaugurating the workshop, S R Patil, Hon’ble Minister for IT, BT and S&T, Govt. of Karnataka pledged all support to MAIT. He urged a shift in policy, tax restructuring, better functioning with the union government and encouraged domestic production.

The Hon’ble Minister for IT, BT and S&T stress on the need for a hardware manifesto reiterating the call that Karnataka was becoming a ‘hardware hub of the country.’ “The stakes are high for Karnataka, already known as the Silicon Valley of India; Karnataka has to set an example to the rest of the country by promoting hardware manufacturing and enabling a manufacturing eco-system,” said the Minister.

Speaking at the inaugural session, Anwar Shirpurwala, Executive Director, MAIT said “Karnataka has an enviable record in Information Technology; Hardware Manufacturing presents a huge opportunity and Karnataka can set benchmarks by being a hardware exporter.” He emphasized doing away with inverted duty structure and subsidies for encouraging domestic manufacturing.”

There was a special session at the workshop where M N Vidyashankar, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary (Retd.), Govt. of Karnataka revealed that Karnataka was the only state in the country to have integrated e-procurement based on deliverables and outcomes, he highlighted that Karnataka was the only state to have a department of e-governance where 36 massive applications were monitored by 11 people. He bought to light that e-procurement initiatives saved over 13000 crore of the government exchequer.

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