Smart cities to create $30- $40 billion business opportunity: Nasscom

NEW DELHI, INDIA: National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom ) said that the government's smart cities programme can create business opportunity of USD 30-40 billion for the IT industry over the next 5- 10 years.

“ ICT could account for about 10-15 per cent of overall outlay of the smart cities mission. This translates into an opportunity of $30-40 billion over next 5-10 years,” said R Chandrashekhar, President, Nasscom.

Under the government's 100 smart cities programme, approved by the Union Cabinet last month, each selected city will get central assistance of Rs 100 crore annually for five years. The government has allocated a total of Rs 48,000 crore for development of smart cities.

Smart city is one of the key initiatives announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, under which the government is aiming to deliver public services to citizens and businesses with a balanced focus in terms of modernizing city infrastructure and leveraging technology to improve efficiency and capacity of city service.

Nasscom is also set to launch a report titled ‘Integrated ICT and Geospatial Technologies Framework for 100 smart cities’, which has been developed in partnership with Accenture, Association for Geospatial Industries (AGI) and Orkash. It will be launched at the upcoming Smart City Expo in New Delhi on May 21. “The report will suggest possible funding mechanisms and procurement strategies, and will be a ready reckoner for states and local bodies,” Chandrashekhar said.

Nasscom was invited by Ministry of Urban Development for the discussions with industry on possible ICT interventions. Nasscom said ICT framework suggested by it will address the unique challenges faced by Indian cities and provide an integrated perspective across the key pillars of physical infrastructure, social infrastructure, environmental and institutional (governance).