India is planning an indigenously developed browser that will ensure data security and privacy, the government has said. A competition for this was held and he results were announced today. Speaking at the function Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw today said this is a big initiative in expanding India’s focus from service to products. 

The focus of the IT sector, which generates revenue of $282 billion, was on services so far, the minister said.

“Now, the Government of India is promoting start-ups, academia to develop software products. The goal is to develop India into a product nation,” he said.

“The government threw open the challenge to develop indigenous browser, to which academia, startups, students, researchers responded enthusiastically,” he added. 

Explaining that a browser is the gateway to the internet, Mr Vaishnaw said developing a browser is the first concrete step towards building entire Indian stack soon. 

India having its own browser would also mean security of data and privacy, since it would be compliant with Data Protection Act. Data of Indian citizens will remain in India only. 

The new browser will be compatible with iOS, Windows and Android, the minister added. 

Developing India into a “product nation” will involve production of software as well as hardware which will be for both analogue and digital systems. 

“Step by step we must build the stack” and the entire industry – researchers,  academia, start-ups, students – will have to come together for this initiative,” he said.