Cabinet panel formed to boost IT

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 24: The Indian government has set up a committee within the federal cabinet to help speed up decisions relating to information technology industries, officials said on Friday.

They said Pramod Mahajan, Minister for Information Technology and Parliamentary Affairs, will head the panel. The other members are Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley, Commerce and Industry Minister Murasoli Maran and Communications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan.The Cabinet Committee on information technology will decide on policy matters relating to information technology, consider fiscal, financial and institutional measures to boost investment in the sector, and periodically monitor the development of the industry to identify bottlenecks to growth, officials said.The committee was formed three days after the US ambassador to India, Richard Celeste, said that the recently-formed Ministry of Information Technology must function as the quot;ministry of speedquot; in order to cut down red tape.