Govt's 'Digital India' call gets Rs. 4.5-lakh-cr promise.

Industry captains came out in huge numbers on Wednesday to sign up for the government's ambitious 'Digital India' project. Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the Digital India week, investment commitments worth more than Rs 4.5 lakh crore poured in from India Inc. A programme whose key components are e-governance, electronics manufacturing, cyber security and financial inclusion, Digital India is seen as one of the marquee projects of the Modi government.

Addressing a gathering of government officials and 'who's who' of India Inc, Modi warned a huge calamity might befall the nation if the digital divide was not bridged soon. Technology could be a catalyst for India's development, and the poorest of the poor should not be left behind, the prime minister said. 'Investment of Rs 4.5 lakh crore has been committed for Digital India and there is employment (opportunity) for 1.8 million people,' he added. (INDIA INC’S INVESTMENT PIPELINE)

The industrialists who spoke of their Digital India plans were Reliance Industries Chairman & Managing Director Mukesh Ambani, Tata Sons Chairman Cyrus Mistry, Wipro Chairman Azim Premji, Aditya Birla Group Chairman K M Birla, Bharti Enterprises Chairman & Group Chief Executive Sunil Mittal, Airbus Defence & Space CEO Bernhard Gerwert, Sterlite Technologies Non-executive Chairman Anil Agarwal, Delta Electronics CEO Ping Cheng, Hero Group Chairman, MD & CEO Pawan Munjal and Lava Mobile Chairman & MD Hari Om Rai.

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries will invest over Rs 2.5 lakh crore, including in rollout of its wireless broadband infrastructure and manufacturing of mobile handsets. His brother Anil Ambani's Reliance Group has committed itself to investing about Rs 10,000 crore over the next few years in expanding its presence across digital platforms, data centres, cloud computing and the telecom sector.

BS