Indian government software applications are set to make the shift to open source technologies, potentially boosting the pace at which such programmes are developed, and leading to millions of dollars in savings by moving away from proprietary systems.

The government is also planning to create a Github-like repository of software that can be collaboratively developed. Experts feel that this will radically improve e-governance and add up significant savings as code and applications can be reused. According to Gartner, the government is expected to spend US $6.4 billion on IT products and services. “The advantage is that every consulting firm will not have to re-invent the software,” said RS Sharma, secretary, department of electronics and information technology.

The policy intends to speed up development and deployment of e-governance projects across various government sectors.

Source: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-11-13/news/56060533_1_source-code-open-source-venkatesh-hariharan