The Hindu Business Line : Enriched by e-governance

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, speaks to eWorld on the company's e-governance experience and plans. TCS is on an e-governance high following the recently completed mega project (the MCA 21) for the Ministry of Company Affairs, which allows companies to register themselves and file their accounts and do other transactions electronically. Excerpts from the chat:

The common perception is that e-governance projects in India are erratic and depend upon their continuance on the administrative officer immediately in charge. And that different departments use different standards and technologies that cannot interface.

Globally India has been known to be so strong in IT but so little has been absorbed internally. It is true that government has had a very fragmented approach, a very `silo-ed' kind of view where every department did its projects separately.

But India is really moving from the pilot project mode, which brings piecemeal impacts, to a mission mode that looks at holistic transformation. This is reflected in some of the request for proposals (RFPs) that are coming up. Maharashra has a project that aims for a paperless office across the entire State with 70,000 staff. We are looking at that project seriously.

The 25 national mission mode projects of the National e-Governance Plan of the Indian Government have a holistic approach. The Government is going to spend $500 million over the next three years.

For a large company such as yours, is it difficult to compete in the L1 system of tendering of the Government, where projects have to be awarded to the lowest bidder?

It is tremendously challenging to operate in that environment, specially when there is no level playing field in terms of capacity. I mean, a two-man IT company is equally considered for the project as a 60,000-person strong company. But things are changing, there is the T1 criterion too, where the best bidder, technologically-speaking, is given weightage.

Yes, there is the central vigilance commissioner's mandate too that government departments must adhere to. But one may ask, at L1, are the funds of the government exchequer being properly utilised, or do those projects ultimately end in failure? Procurement practices need transparency and accountability. What is the impact of the project on the stakeholders (ultimately citizens).

Today e-governance means a desktop on everybody's desk. The focus is to shift from process to service, from input to outcome, to create life improving products and services.

But the government is getting serious. It is getting international consultants to draw up RFPs.

There are also complaints that the government sometimes specifies the vendors for software or for hardware, and that the company that does an e-governance project is sometimes constrained by this.

We always recommend an optimised fit of products recommended by our own consultants. Currently it is more OEM-driven (original equipment manufacturer) rather than IT services driven, this is like putting the cart before the horse. But, as I said, things are changing.

Is it true that India has not developed a universal code for regional language software? Does this mean that one will have various projects using different codes that cannot talk to each other?

This is not a very mature area yet. Unicode is to be adopted as the standard. But individuals are coming up with their own software and there is a lack of compatibility among them. The usage of local languages is not at threshold volumes. Sometimes the service creates a need and sometimes the need creates local language software enablement. Look at ATMs, there is a demand for Hindi/Bengali interface.

But when an IT service in language software is made available, then it drives IT usage. We find that veteran clerks of 35 years have taken to technology in Andhra Pradesh after we digitised the entire secretariat there. Traditional lower level Hindi speaking clerks have adapted to it.

What are the projects that TCS is currently working on?

The MCA-21 project that we did for the Ministry of Company Affairs is just over. We have digitised 3 crore records. Companies can now be registered online, their accounts filed electronically. The portal is already getting 3 million hits a day and is the most popular ever in the country.

We did the AP Online project for Andhra Pradesh, which delivers 150 government services and does half a million transactions monthly, providing 10,000 jobs at kiosks.

We have done a VAT solution for the north-eastern States, treasury automation for State governments; we have a defence project, we have public works department projects. We are also doing a solution for the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme, as part of our Corporate Social Responsibility.

How paying is e-governance for a company like TCS? And what are the company's plans, going ahead?

Margins are not very high. But the experience it yields is very valuable. Government is a new area of focus for TCS worldwide. We try to bring about replicating the India experience, how to build and deploy the same thing many times over. Since we have a common British legacy, the system of workflow is rather similar in Sri Lanka, Singapore and other countries where we are looking at projects.

We have projects in the unemployment insurance space for US States, and other projects for both federal and state government. We want to focus on Central and Eastern Europe too where tremendous transformation is taking place. We also work for multilateral and bilateral agencies such as the World Bank, UNDP, Asian Development Bank and the like.

Currently e-governance's percentage contribution to TCS' revenues is in single digit. We hope to make it a double-digit figure very soon.

kripram@thehindu.co.in

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