Open source adoption by the Indian government

The government’s decision to switch over to open source options which are free could result in substantial cost savings but is also a matter of concern in terms of security and operational efficiency, both of which need to be addressed.

The government’s total IT spend was going to be US$ 66.98 billion in 2015 as per the Ministry of Communications and IT. This was derived from several global IT research and advisory forecasts. According to NASSCOM’s Data Security Council of India, the average expense on cyber security is nearly 2 to 3 per cent of the total IT spending, i.e., US$ 1.5 to US$ 2 billion.

As per Rahul De, Hewlett-Packard’s chair professor on ICT for sustainable economic development at IIM Bangalore, a major proportion—almost 15-20 per cent—of the government’s IT spend is on closed software. Transitioning