India has said it will use open source software in all e-governance projects, though it did not rule out the use of proprietary software to meet specialized requirements.

A policy document released by the federal government over the weekend makes it mandatory for all new e-governance projects and upgrades of existing legacy systems by federal agencies and participating states to first consider free and open source software (OSS) alternatives.

Federal and state agencies must make it mandatory for suppliers to give OSS a preference over proprietary or closed source software while responding to requests for proposals. ”Suppliers shall provide justification for exclusion of OSS in their response,” according to the policy statement posted to the website of the Ministry for Communication & Information Technology.

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