The Indian IT industry should aim to have 500-600 companies with Rs 5,000 crore or above revenue in 3-5 years, from the current tally of 25-30 such firms, Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Thursday, exhorting the sector to leverage its proven attributes of trust and competitiveness to tap global opportunities in the post-COVID world. For the Indian tech sector, the present moment represents an opportunity like never before, the Minister of State for Electronics and IT said.

"Currently, there are about 25 Indian tech companies that have Rs 5,000 crore or above revenue. And I think in 3-5 years...I don't say it lightly, the number of companies that can be Rs 5,000 crore and more of revenue... we should have an ambition, and it is a realisable ambition, of taking it from the 25-30 we have today to about 500-600 in the next 3-5 years," the minister said. Chandrasekhar, who was speaking at CII's annual meeting, said the massive digitisation initiatives in the country over the past years and the post-COVID world scenario have brought out "biggest opportunity like no other time in history".

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"We have seen the power of technology in the worst time that a nation could face, which is the COVID pandemic. To me, it seems that the efforts of last seven years and post COVID world opportunity that we have catapulted to, represent the biggest opportunity like no other time in history," the minister said. The world has woken up to the strengths of the Indian IT sector, whose proven attributes also represent the fundamental attributes of the tech supply chain, he observed.

Trust and competitiveness have become important for all global companies, large and small, as they seek new strategies in post COVID world. "That is the trigger for the Indian tech sector to suddenly expand their ambition and appetite...I have looked at the potential opportunities for growth. I would squarely put this in a sandbox, this is an ambition we should place as ambition for the tech sector, that there should be 500-600 companies that are Rs 5,000 crore and more," he said.

The minister said the government will continue to work on making dos and don'ts of operating on the internet, and the tech space "simple". "We want cyber laws and rules of operating to be as simple as possible," he said.