In order to analyze experiences related to digital books in India, we must begin by reminding ourselves of the importance that information technology (IT) services have acquired within the country. According to the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), the IT sector represents no less than 6.4% of GDP and 26% of exports.[1] The accelerated growth of hundreds of companies located in Bangalore – known as “India’s Silicon Valley” –, Chennai, Hyderabad or Pune is evidence of this same phenomenon.

With 500,000 new engineers graduating every year,[2] the leading role played by India in IT services is largely the result of decades of State investment, as applied science was given considerable impetus by the public sector from the post-war period on. Nehru himself – India’s Prime Minister from 1947 to 1964 – stated at that time:

It is science alone that can solve the problems of hunger and poverty, of insanitation and illiteracy, of superstition and deadening of custom and tradition, of vast resources running to waste or a rich country inhabited by starving poor. Who indeed could afford to ignore science today? (…) The future belongs to science and those who make friends with science.[3]

The current efforts of the Indian State are reflected in the operations of the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), a public corporation run by the Ministry of Information Technologies, whose activities are carried out in around twenty cities. STPI’s main objectives are to promote exports of IT services and encourage the creation of small and medium enterprises in this sector.

Software technology is now central to the internal functioning of the public sector, to the extent that in November 2010 the Indian government announced its plans to develop its own operating system for security reasons.[4]