Country's second largest software exporter Infosys, which is sharpening focus on tapping 'cloud computing', on Friday said India needs a policy framework for the new service that enables companies to share IT infrastructure and cut costs.

Infosys CEO and MD Kris Gopalakrishnan said efforts were on for such a policy and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) will submit a draft paper to the government next month.

"CII is putting together a draft paper on opportunities in cloud computing and what should be the policy framework on this. The opportunities are huge for India for providing citizen services. And if we have the right regulatory frame work then we can accelerate," Kris said on the sidelines of an event here.

Cloud computing facilitates sharing of technological resources, software and digital information. It operates on a pay-per-use model, helping small and mid-size companies to cut IT infrastructure costs.

According to a consulting firm Zinnov, cloud computing market in India is expected to cross USD 1.08 billion by 2015, from USD 110 million in 2010.


Meanwhile, Gopalakrishnan said cloud-services form 3 per cent of Infosys' income, and over 10 per cent if cloud- products are included.

He said it is concentrating on core issues like helping companies transition towards cloud services and offering new solutions.

Gopalakrishnan said, however, that some of the issues like data privacy and security should be addressed properly, which is possible only with a regulatory framework.

"Regulatory framework would give confidence that the service providers will provide the service securely and reliably. We need a regulatory framework in place also to ensure data privacy. But the data centre should be located in India," Gopalakrishnan said.

He added that creating infrastructure for cloud computing requires huge investment. Meanwhile, a company official said Infosys has already appointed 2,000 experts to work on the new service.