It's Time for India’s IT Industry to Start Building Operating Systems

Over the past few years, India’s tech headlines have rightly been dominated by artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, fintech, e-commerce, cloud services, data centres, and semiconductors. These are the areas where the government has launched large missions — from the IndiaAI Mission to the India Semiconductor Mission — and where venture capital and corporate investment is flowing.

But amid all this excitement, one foundational area of technology has been largely ignored: operating systems.

An operating system (OS) is the software that everything else runs on. Whether it is AI tools, e-commerce platforms, financial apps, or cybersecurity layers — all of them depend on the OS of the device. In this sense, OS software is as fundamental as semiconductors and data centres. Yet, India has had very little conversation, either in government circles or the news media, about building indigenous operating systems.


The case for building Indian OS software

India’s IT industry has historically been services-oriented, depending heavily on global outsourcing contracts. But with rising protectionist and reshoring sentiment in the US and other Western markets, this model faces long-term risk. If India does not shift towards creating foundational products, our IT giants may struggle to recover when global clients pull more work back home.

This is why the time has come for India’s IT industry to take bold steps in OS development. The financial resources exist within the top companies, and the most important resource — manpower — can be secured either by upskilling current employees or by hiring from the very large pool of Global Capability Centre (GCC) professionals working in India.


Why niche, not one-size-fits-all

Some may argue that dethroning Windows or iOS is impossible. That probably is true. The smarter path is not to build a general-purpose OS for everyone, but to focus on niche, industry-specific operating systems.

Globally, this approach already exists. Aviation systems use specialised OS software for safety. Automobiles run on tailored OS platforms for in-car functions. Banking and healthcare devices have secure, customised OS layers.

For India, the opportunity is to create similar vertical OS stacks: -

- Banking and fintech OS for secure devices and payment terminals.

- Telecom and router OS for managing India’s vast network infrastructure.

- Healthcare OS for compliance and patient-data security.

- Defence and critical infrastructure OS for sovereign control.

- IoT and industrial OS for factories, smart agriculture, and logistics.

Here, adoption depends less on having millions of consumers, and more on serving 5–50 anchor clients in each sector. That is achievable.


India’s unique advantage: GCC professionals

This is where India has a hidden strategic advantage. Tens of thousands of GCC engineers in India are already writing and maintaining world-class code for the operating systems of Microsoft, Google, Apple, and global telecom and cloud companies.

No other country outside the West has this depth and scale of OS-relevant talent. If these professionals are hired in repurposed Indian IT firms, India could form a strong OS development ecosystem.


How to make it happen

For this ambition to succeed, India must proceed with a clear roadmap: -

1. Form consortia. Leading IT majors (TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL), device manufacturers, and academic bodies (IITs, C-DAC) should come together under government facilitation.

2. Start with pilots. Target government fleets, PSU banks, and telecom operators as first users of indigenous OS solutions. This builds credibility.

3. Build on open foundations. Use existing kernels (like Linux or Android open source) but focus efforts on local needs: security, Indian languages, compliance, and update systems.

4. Incentivise developers. Provide grants and tools to migrate enterprise apps onto these new OS platforms.

5. Invest long-term. Alongside practical deployments, fund deep R&D for the next 5–7 years in areas like security microkernels and AI-friendly runtime environments.



The Payoff 

If done right, India will not only de-risk its IT industry from global outsourcing shocks but also create sovereign control over the software that underpins our digital economy. Our MSMEs, startups, and large enterprises — all of whom need reliable, affordable, and secure digital infrastructure — will have indigenous options instead of being permanently dependent on foreign platforms.


Conclusion

The future of India’s IT industry cannot just be about serving global clients. It must also be about building the foundational software that India itself runs on. Niche operating systems, powered by redeployed GCC talent, supported by industry-government consortia, and tested in key sectors, could become India’s next strategic tech leap.

The time to begin is now. If we wait until outsourcing dries up, it will already be too late. And the fallout will have not just economic but also political consequences.

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