Free Software Foundation of India
| Abbreviation | FSFI |
|---|---|
| Formation | 20 July 2001 |
| Type | Charitable organization |
| Headquarters | Kerala, India |
Region served | India |
| Affiliations | FSF* network |
| Website | fsf |
The Free Software Foundation of India (FSFI) is the Indian sister organisation to the US-based Free Software Foundation. It was founded in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) (the capital of Kerala) in 2001 as a non-profit Company. The FSFI advocates to promote the use and development of free software in India. This includes educating people about free software, including how it can help the economy of a developing country like India. FSF India regards non-free software as not a solution, but a problem to be solved. Free software is sometimes locally called swatantra software in India.
In 2003, after meeting with FSF founder Richard Stallman, the President of India Dr. Abdul Kalam urged Indian computer scientists and professionals to use free and open-source software in research and development.