India’s digital economy can grow to $2 trillion and beyond in 3-4 years: IT minister

India's digital economy, driven by the information technology industry and backed by the government's new electronics manufacturing policy, has the potential to grow beyond $1 trillion to $2 to $4 trillion by the end of the decade, minister of electronics and information technology Ravi Shankar Prasad has said.

''There is unanimity among partners that a $1-trillion economy is an understatement. India has the immense potential to go for a $2 trillion to $4 trillion investment. I have been told that the BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) industry alone has the potential to grow to $1 trillion, another participant said that electronics manufacturing itself has the potential to reach that figure within the next 3 to 4 years,''  Prasad said on the sidelines of a meeting with the IT industry on the future of the digital economy.

''The industry particularly acknowledged the potential of the new economy, like digital payments, e-commerce, internet of things and a more expansive version of BPO,'' he added.

Besides, Prasad said there is a need to encourage startups in the field of healthcare and education in order to expand our electronic manufacturing footprint.

''We will be having a coordinated action with the ministry of health, ministry of agriculture, and ministry of human resource development to promote an ecosystem to facilitate more startups in these fields,'' he said.

He said the government will be coming up with policies to encourage manufacturing in the country. ''We will shortly be laying down a New Electronic Policy to boost electronic manufacturing. There is a need to look inward, therefore, we will come up with a New Software Product policy. And we are going to have a framework for Data Security and Data Protection Policy.''