Over ₹134 crore spent on proprietary software at premier institutes, says open source collective
FOSS United says the amount likely represented a fraction of public university spending on software it claims could be replaced by open source equivalents
Indian universities and prestigious technical institutes have allocated a minimum of ₹134 crore over the past five years for licenses of proprietary software, according to FOSS United, an open-source advocacy group. The collective obtained this information through Right to Information Act, 2005 queries. FOSS United's CEO, Sai Rahul Poruri, highlighted a discrepancy between the government's drive for technological sovereignty and the persistent use of third-party proprietary software that can withdraw services at any time.
Poruri contended that the cited spending likely constitutes only 15-20% of total expenditures by premier public institutes, potentially reaching up to ₹200 crore annually over five years. The government has implemented policies promoting open source software usage within the government sector, but proprietary software still influences decisions in key areas like semiconductors.
While the IT Ministry encourages the use of open-source frameworks like RISC V for chip design, it will continue to provide access to mature platforms like ARM and IBM Power for startups and academia. Poruri emphasized the compatibility issues between proprietary software education and first-principles thinking, advocating for the integration of open-source tool development to foster multi-disciplinary skills and accelerate India's technological independence.
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