Open Source Software for Indian Government

The Indian Department Of Electronics and Information Technology issued a “Policy on Adoption of Open Source Software for Government of India” (F. No. 1(3)/2014 – EG II, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, March 2015). The policy is mandatory for all Central Government Organisations for all new e-Governance applications and new versions of existing systems.

"3. Policy Statement

Government of India shall endeavour to adopt Open Source Software in all e-Governance systems implemented by various Government
organizations, as a preferred option in comparison to Closed Source Software (CSS).
The Open Source Software shall have the following characteristics: 

3.1 The source code shall be available for the community / adopter / end-user to study and modify the software and to redistribute copies of either the original or modified software.

3.2 Source code shall be free from any royalty."