Inaugurating the workshop, Chief Minister of Goa Shri Manohar Parrikar promised all support to MAIT. He promised to provide a clear state IT policy by around the time of the budget presentation this year.
Emphasizing that the focus on ESDM should not be only aimed at reducing the trade gap, the Chief Minister said that there was a need to have local base for Electronic System Design and Manufacturing within India in view of the country’s security requirements.
“It is our patriotic duty to promote manufacturing of electronic systems design products in India as most of the security equipment are manufactured in other countries like China which poses a major security threat for the country,” he said. Besides he pledged his support to MAIT in the implementation of policies.
The Chief Minister further promised to extend all possible support to push hardware manufacturing and disposing off e-Waste in the state. “I am happy to work together with MAIT,” he added.
Speaking at the inaugural session, Mr J V Ramamurthy, President, MAIT and President & COO, HCL Infosystems Ltd said “This initiative under the aegis of the Department of Electronics & Information Technology and the Govt. of Goa presents a huge opportunity for the State to become an electronics hardware manufacturing hub to meet its domestic requirements as well as the global requirements”. He further elaborated on the need for self-sufficiency in the manufacturing in the country and the low dependence on imports.
There was a special session at the Workshop that highlighted the State and Central Government’s initiatives in the ESDM space. Eminent speakers Shri P S Narotra, Sr Director, Department of Electronics & IT and Shri S K Marwaha, Addl. Director, Department of Electronics & IT elaborated on various government measures to support the ESDM industry.
This session was followed by a panel discussion on “India - the Electronic System Design & Manufacturing Hub: Opportunities & Challenges”. The discussion was moderated by Shri. Deepak P.Chodankar, Head-R&D, Smartlink Network Systems Ltd and the panelists included Shri Subhash Phaldessai, Chairman, Infotech Corporation of Goa Limited, Shri. Nilesh B. Phal Dessai, Director IT, Government of Goa, Shri P S Narotra, Sr Director, Department of Electronics & IT and Shri Hemant Usgaonkar, General Manager, Siemens Ltd, Goa.
Shri Anwar Shirpurwala, Executive Director MAIT on behalf of the Indian IT industry, thanked the Govt. of India for giving the hardware sector its rightful due by way of creating conducive atmosphere in the country, what with several policies being implemented at a faster clip. He further mentioned that the ESDM is an idea whose time has truly come.
About MAIT
Set up in 1982 for purposes of scientific, educational and IT Industry promotion, MAIT has emerged as an effective, influential and dynamic organisation in these 30 years. Representing Hardware, Training, R&D & Hardware Design and other associated service segments of the Indian IT Industry, MAIT’s charter is to develop a globally competitive Indian IT Industry, promote the usage of IT in India, strengthen the role of IT in national economic development, promote business through international alliances, promote quality consciousness in the IT Industry and transform the Indian IT Industry into a World Scale Industry leading to a World Class Usage and thus a World Size Market.
