PM calls for building strong IT industry, more active work

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, Jun 1 (PRIME) – Russia, with its experience and the resources, should build a strong IT industry faster, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on Thursday at the Digital Industry of Industry of Russia forum.

Mishustin reiterated that President Vladimir Putin had set the goal of achieving technological independence from foreign software.

“This is why it is necessary to build a strong IT industry, capable of creating high class digital solutions for the tasks of manufacturers. This is the basis of industrial independence. We have the needed expertise, scientific potential, and resources. We should use them more actively,” the prime minister said.

He said that demand for the some local software products jumped by 900% to 1,100% in 2022 and the number of programmers rose by 13% on the year to more than 740,000 people at present.

The country has more than 22,000 accredited companies-developers of software.

“The situation in the industry is confirmed by the volume of sales of own solutions and services, which increased by almost a quarter to about 2.2 trillion ruble. It is a good trend,” Mishustin said.

The prime minister also said that the government is considering compulsory deductions for the firms using foreign software till their transition to local solutions.

“Half of the sum may be spent on grant support of Russian IT companies. The second part may be used as collateral for beneficial lending,” he said.

Mishustin called on large industrialists to get rid of illusions and switch to local IT solutions more actively.

“The government will determine a single approach to fulfilment of the state policy in the sphere (of critical information infrastructure). All the questions about availability in the country of key technologies and solutions should be settled,” he said.

Mishustin said that the government will soon update the strategy of digital transformation of the processing industry.

(80.9942 rubles – U.S. $1)

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