80% civic agencies allocate less than 1% budget to ICT: Survey

NEW DELHI: About 80 per cent of the civic agencies allocate less than one per cent of their budgets to information and communication technology, a survey said.

"Presently, about 80 per cent civic agencies allocate less than one per cent of their budgets to Information and Communication Technology (ICT)," Schneider Electric India said citing an independent survey.

"Ironically, although 90 per cent of civic agencies believe ICT will ensure tremendous benefits in terms of transparency and accountability, actual allocations are less than 1-5 per cent, with many states spending much less than the allocated amounts," the survey said.

The majority of civic agencies allocate between 0.5-1 per cent, while another 40 per cent allocate less than 0.5 per cent of municipal revenues for ICT expenditure.

Only 12 per cent of respondent civic agencies have ICT budget allocations in the range of 1-1.5 per cent. Conversely, about 2 per cent allocate more than 5 per cent of their budgets towards ICT.

But only 28 per cent have adopted electronic services for smart water and waste management. Amongst core services, water and sewage management systems have been adopted by more than 30 per cent, it added.

"Successful implementation by other cities should, however, inspire the laggards to opt for faster adoption of ICT solutions, which will play a key role in existing cities as well as in creating greenfield Smart Cities," Anil Chaudhry, President and Country Head, Schneider Electric India.