India is All Set to Become the Data Capital and Software Epicenter

India's history of being a software services powerhouse has already given the country the tools to become a superpower in artificial intelligence (AI) development, said Pranav Mistry, founder of Silicon Valley-based deep-tech startup Two Platforms Inc.

"AI is synonymous with software and India is already a superpower in software. I don't think there is any software company in India right now that doesn't use a machine learning (ML) model or training. It is the next chapter of the software industry," asserted the computer scientist known for his inventions including the gesture-based wearable computer technology called Sixth Sense, while delivering the closing keynote at the Mint AI Summit.

India has become a software superpower and is joining the ranks of the top 2-3 software economies in the world, said Brad Smith, president of Microsoft Corp. Smith told ET's Surabhi Agarwal in an interview that the government's move to rethink its data privacy law was 'an act of wisdom. India, he added, was also fast becoming one of the most influential nations in terms of the future of technology regulation, on par with the European Union, United Kingdom, the United States, and China. Geopolitical tensions, he said, have sparked a new world order, and the talent crisis gripping major countries with aging populations is an opportunity for India.

India has come a long way from the days it was considered a land of snake charmers and oriental bric a brac! Today, the images that are getting conjured up in the minds of global citizens have more to do with hi-tech software development facilities, cutting-edge R&D centers, and 24x7x365, constantly humming, offshore outsourcing environments that represent a giant, ever-expanding IT hub.

Even a chatty, New York cabbie will tell you that the software programmers that Silicon Valley is reputed for are from a techno-Shangri-la called India. Without a doubt, India has arrived on the global map and it's been all thanks to the country's two-decade-old, relatively young but vibrant IT industry.

Clearly, the nexus between India and IT is getting stronger with each passing day. For a country that lagged in the industrial revolution, this rapid catching of the technology bus has been nothing short of a miracle. Riding high on the global IT wave, India has not only managed to keep pace with the rest of the developed world, but it has also even moved ahead in the hotly competitive technology race.

India is now a well-recognized face of the world IT firmament. It is a country that is being increasingly identified with high-quality IT products, services, and processes as well as a wealth of skilled manpower that ranks among the best in the world. India's vast pool of trained computer professionals is fuelling the growth of the fast-paced IT sector in the country.

India's influence and contribution to digital technology are commendable. The initiatives taken by the Indian government over the past years were also noteworthy.

"The thing I worry about the most around the world is when governments are trying to work so quickly, to move the laws forward together in so many fields, at the same time, that they don't have the opportunity to think through how to put the pieces together. That notion, that a government would pause, to think about how a privacy law should move with a better connection to other fields," said Smith.

On the grounds of this statement, as per recent reports, the government withdrew the Personal Protection Data Bill last month. It is also said that the Bill would be replaced by a comprehensive legal framework that will be formulated to address the contemporary and future challenges of the digital ecosystem.