India needs more big IT firms

New Delhi: The Indian IT industry should aim to have 500-600 companies with Rs 5,000 crore or above revenue in three-five years, from the current tally of 25-30 such firms, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Thursday, exhorting the sector to leverage its proven attributes of trust and competitiveness to tap global opportunities in the post-Covid world.

For the Indian tech sector, the present moment represents an opportunity like never before, the Minister of State for Electronics and IT said. "Currently, there are about 25 Indian tech companies that have Rs 5,000 crore or above revenue. And I think in three-five years. I don't say it lightly, the number of companies that can be Rs 5,000 crore and more of revenue. We should have an ambition, and it is a realisable ambition, of taking it from the 25-30 we have today to about 500-600 in the next three-five years," the minister said.

Chandrasekhar, who was speaking at CII's annual meeting, said the massive digitisation initiatives in the country over the past years and the post-Covid world scenario have brought out biggest opportunity like no other time in history. "We have seen the power of technology in the worst time that a nation could face, which is the Covid pandemic. To me, it seems that the efforts of last seven years and post-Covid world opportunity that we have catapulted to, represent the biggest opportunity like no other time in history," the minister said. The world has woken up to strengths of the Indian IT sector, whose proven attributes also represent the fundamental attributes of tech supply chain, he observed.

Trust and competitiveness have become important for all global companies, large and small, as they seek new strategy in post-Covid world.