"We want to link click with brick

Tata Consultancy Services was one of the first companies in India to have

a clear focus on e-governance. The companys major claim to fame was the

successful implementation of the MCA 21 project for the Ministry of Company

Affairs. After that, there has been no looking back, as it continued to earn

laurels. The company was awarded the Best e-Gov Vendor at the Dataquest e-Gov

Summit 2008. Tanmoy Chakrabarty, vice president and head of the Global

Government Industry Group at TCS, spoke to Dataquest about the companys e-gov

roadmap. Excerpts

TCS has been one of the earliest companies doing pioneering work in the

e-governance segment. However, now, as there is no dearth of companies vying for

a presence in this vertical, is TCS looking at a change in strategy?



Presently, the government segment is a very young and small vertical.

Globally, this segment contributes single-digit revenue to the company, but the

goal is to accelerate the growth and contribute double-digit revenue by 2010.

While the IT industry talks about SOA, our strategy is clear; at TCS, in the

government business, we have a Framework Oriented Approach (FOA). We are engaged

in building solutions that address the needs of the government. Once this

framework is built, it can then be replicated later. Our philosophy is that we

dont want to rebuild solutions over and over again.

For instance, if we have built a municipality solution, it can then be taken

to other customers later and, thereafter, minor changes can be made as per the

customers requirements. The idea is to create a robust platform and then

customize it as per requirements, thereby leading to cost reduction. We have

created a digital framework for paperless government offices, FOA for public

service healthcare, public works department, municipality and treasury, and

value added tax FOA was implemented across twelve states via the citizen service

delivery framework.

Whats the update on your flagship MCA 21 project?



Being one of the first companies to enter the e-governance space, TCS was

engaged by the Ministry of Company Affairs (MCA) as its IT partner in 2005. We

delivered the system across India in just seventy-seven weeks and went live in

February 2006. Since then, the MCA 21 project has brought a transformation in

the functioning of the whole business of registration of company offices. The

project has de-layered the government for the common man, who no longer has to

visit the government office for any government-related work; they could just log

on to the Internet and get the work done at the click of a mouse.

Tanmoy Chakrabarty, VP & Head, Global Government Industry  Group, TCS

The MCA 21 project is a fine example of how communities should adopt IT

holistically; and as the government has adopted this framework for the

betterment of the community, I believe there is gross underestimation of the

governments capability to adopt IT. During the first year of its launch, the

MCA 21 project saw a 92% adoption rate. This was made possible due to user

acceptance, ease of use, and the benefits to companies. The project has saved

approximately 100 mn pages per cycle and is truly a green project.

During 2007, the emphasis was on stabilizing operations and value addition,

standardization of processes, and testing the system. Implementation of role

check for authorized signatory of a company and professionals was introduced in

order to ensure authenticity of documents and non-repudiation by the signatory.

Internet banking facility from SBI was implemented and the number of authorized

bank branches almost doubled from 200 to 399. Most importantly, the department

also mandated regular DIN for e-filing, and details of directors of a company

can now be viewed on the website, free of charge.

However, I want the government to stop looking at IT as a commodity; instead

the government should avail IT as a service. Usage of IT as a service absolves

the government of obsolescence.

TCS has done a number of pioneering projects in Gujarat, and has had a

long association with Andhra Pradesh that once held a leadership position. How

do you perceive the progress of these two states now, and what are some major

projects here?



Gujarat is an excellent example of a leadership-driven e-governance agenda.

When chief minister Narendra Modi had announced 2004 as the year of

e-governance, there were a lot of doubts simply because India has been a

graveyard of pilot projects. A number of pilot projects were tested but they

never reached the implementation stage. Some e-governance initiatives by the

Gujarat government where we have been involved include secretariat digital

workflow, treasury administration, value added tax, and end-to-end solutions for

the police force.

The end-to-end police force solution is a pioneering initiative, as for the

first time a state government is embarking on an end-to-end, holistic IT

enablement of the police force. The solution will connect the office of the home

secretary to the police post. The solution would also include detailed

information about the criminal records, human resource, finance, inventory

management, traffic management, intelligence and all other aspects of policing.

We will go live with the project in the next five months.

The impact of various e-governance projects was felt by the people of the

state, who, by re-electing him, have reposed their faith. E-governance is just a

milestone for good governance with the state seeing a holistic and

enterprise-wide deployment of e-governance.

On the other hand, in Andhra Pradesh, which was in a leadership position some

years back, we are seeing a definite slowdown with the state becoming a bit

complacent now. Contrary to our expectations that the state would be going to

the next level of maturity, no initiatives have been witnessed of late. Belying

popular perception, Bihar is fast moving ahead on the e-governance track and

currently, there are five major programs like Bihar online, treasury, SWAN, etc,

with leadership driving e-governance here.

How much focus does TCS have on big league government projects like

citizen service centers?



Citizen service centers are a part of the Mission Mode Program under the

National e-Governance Program and are meant to be a brick and mortar interface

for citizens to obtain services. The objective is to address the digital divide,

as CSCs will have operator-based services and the capability to bring governance

right to the doorsteps.

Our interest is not in the physical brick and mortar business, but we are in

the business of citizen service delivery portal. We want the citizen service

delivery services to be made available through these CSCs. We believe that there

is no need to build another portal, we want to link click with brick.

Stuti Das



stutid@cybermedia.co.in