Pertisth Mankotia sets the agenda for change. What's yours?

BANGALORE, INDIA: Former President of India A P J Abdul Kalam has a vision to make India a developed country by 2020. The world's largest democracy and second most populous country has emerged a major power to reckon with in the past two decades, yet it remains a developing country.

Now, what's essential for envisioning India's future, especially in information technology, is to understand that the parameters which determine national development have changed in recent years and will change further.

The nation, which has made giant strides in information technology arena, is battling rising costs and increasing competition from other countries. The IT/ITes sector's contribution to GDP has gone up from 1.2 pc in 1997-98 to an estimated 7.5 pc in 2011-12. Yet, that isn't sufficient.

Now is the time to plan strategies to lead the nation onto the growth path and make Kalam's Vision-2020 a reality. Here are views of some leaders from IT and business world.

What is your agenda for change in the IT arena? Do let us know in the comments tag.

Here is the Agenda for Change in IT by Pertisth Mankotia, head IT, Sheela Foam Pvt. Ltd.

1. The focus should now shift to macro level to make India more business friendly over all, not just in IT. Priorities should be in the areas of the skills, R&D and integrations etc.

2. With regard to IT, infrastructure should get attention. The government must support to build the stable bandwidth infrastructure, because today the connectivity is the nerve of any IT system.

3. IT sector is struggling with increasing costs of licenses, frequent technological changes/upgradations and double taxation (service tax and VAT) on right to use software etc. The government must look into these areas.

4. The GST must be implemented and taxation should be standardized/uniformed across states. The government taxation systems must be integrated with systems run by corporates. This initiative will remove the black money generation and manipulations to a large extent.

In the next article read the Agenda for Change by Ashim Roy, Country Head of Stoke