GoI shall give preferential treatment to Indian companies

Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has notified that henceforth, it shall give preferential treatment to Indian companies in the procurement of cybersecurity products, including both hardware and software solutions used in its IT projects across all departments in centre and state . “Preference shall be provided by all procuring entities to domestically manufactured/ produced cybersecurity products as per the order,” says the notification published on the official website of the ministry. The mandate under the notification would be applicable to all government departments and ministries at the center and state levels.

The Government has issued public procurement order to encourage 'Make in India’ and to promote manufacturing and production of goods and services in India with a view to enhancing income and employment, declares the notification. The announcement has been made in regard to the ‘Make in India’ program of the government to promote the manufacturing of locally-made products and services.

As per the notification, local suppliers are defined as businesses incorporated and registered in India under the applicable acts for companies. In addition, at the time of bidding for products or services above 10 crore rupees, a company shall have to provide certification from a statutory auditor to prove that it meets the definition of ‘local supplier’. The company also has to demonstrate ownership of the intellectual property associated with the product, in addition to other applicable ownership rights such as trademarks and logos.

All cyber security products and services, including hardware and software for “maintaining confidentiality, availability and integrity of information by protecting computing devices, infrastructure, programs, data from attack, damage, or unauthorized access,” are covered under the notification, including advanced authentication, GRC (Governance Risk Compliance), security analytics, DoS and DDoS protection, cloud security, big data analytics, antivirus/mobile data protection, firewalls, end-point security, identity management, and digital payments.

It is fact that by installing either hardware /software one can make their information/content secured. It is the high time to educate the professionals on how to stop hacking, and the measure to take while you use any devices which will connect to the internet. It is also true that awareness is the best education. Security awareness should be conducted as an on-going program to ensure that training and knowledge is not just delivered as an annual activity, rather it is used to maintain a high level of security awareness on a daily basis . As the VARs, resellers, distributors and agencies of foreign-developed products and services who have limited rights to the intellectual property, are exempted from the tentative mandate as mentioned in the notification and with this move, it’ll help in protecting the government’s sensitive data from leaking outside, as well as lead to a better cybersecurity ecosystem.

Tags: GoI, preferential treatment to Indian companies, govt of india, government of india, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, MeitY, make in india, cyber security, cybersecurity, GRC, Governance Risk Compliance, security analytics, DoS, DDoS protection, cloud security, big data analytics, antivirus, mobile data protection, firewalls, end-point security, identity management, digital payments, varindia