As part of the National Policy on Software Products, the government of India has approved creating a Rs 5,000 crore fund for promoting startups in the software sector. The decision was possibly made at the meeting of the Union Cabinet that lasted till late in the evening on Thursday and the announcement by the IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad later.

According to the minister, the government will immediately chip in with ₹1,000 crores while the rest will come from the industry. The government hopes that it can help as many as 10,000 new startups in the software development space and in the process generate employment to the extent of 6.5 million.

Simultaneously, the government is also setting aside a fund of Rs 500 crores towards research and development in the IT sector and this fund will be focused on the micro, small and medium enterprises or MSMEs if they can come up with IP-driven software products.

As part of the National Policy on Software Products, the government plans to arrange skill training for 1 million IT professionals and to enable those with leadership qualities to take up higher level positions in the industry, special training will be imparted to 10,000 such selected professionals. There are plans to develop 20 dedicates clusters or corridors to promote the IT sector as well.

Industry experts feel, India has to think globally and big and if this policy is implemented well, it can open up the world for Indian IT products, both software and applied devices/gadgets.

The larger objective is to take a quantum leap in the software products market for India from the current levels of around $7 billion to $70 to $80 billion.

The national policy that was approved aims to position India as a hub for software products development and aims to create 65 lakh jobs by 2025. According to a Mint report, the government expects this policy intervention will help software products industry grow at a CAGR of about 40%.