Javadekar asks IT pros to think big

New Delhi, Sep 19 (IANS) Saying that he is "unhappy" over the progress the IT industry has made, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar on Friday asked professionals to "think big".

"I recall that in 1998-99, when IT was a subsidized industry and we were aiming at $50 billion monetization in the IT industry, at that time, Atal ji (then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee) used to say IT doesn’t stand for Information Technology, but India Today – and that’s the confidence with which we started and we began it in a way that we develop some type of software skills," Javadekar said inaugurating the CII Big Picture Summit 2014 here.

"But now I am unhappy over the progress of IT industry since we’re a leading nation, but still we have not created Facebook, we have not come up with Twitter, we have not come out with many things we are using, even Whatsapp or Google, leave alone Windows everything and all 16 browsers these are the companies, which have gained really.

"We have not done iPhones, iPads. I was with Steve Jobs (in 1990s) for two days, and I saw his passion when he had a simple phone – with only SMS, calling and hearing facility. At that time, he was telling me that there will be a handheld thing, which will be camera, TV, music, everything. And it has become a reality. He had visualised a smartphone at that time. To comprehend it was also not possible at that time. So, you must think big," he said.