The smartphone industry in India should now focus on software and applications that go into the device, in addition to hardware, making sure it has ‘Indian DNA’, IT Secretary Ajay Prakash Sawhney said on Thursday.
“This time the journey is not just the hardware part of the smartphones. In India, we must work equally hard, even harder, on the software part of what goes into the smartphone... in terms of the application ecosystem and the operating systems… Let’s make sure it is the finest that we have globally and a lot of it should have Indian DNA,” the secretary said.
He was speaking at the release of a report by the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) and KPMG India, as per which smartphones and e-services can be leveraged by the government to unlock 80% improvement in efficiency and an eightfold reduction in processing time.
The comments come close on the heels of the government banning 59 Chinese mobile applications in the country, including TikTok, Shareit, Mi Video Call, Club Factory and Cam Scanner, citing threat to national security and sovereignty amid complaints of “stealing and surreptitiously transmitting” users’ data to servers outside India.
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