Advertisment

When it comes to conceptualizing big projects, the government has failed

author-image
DQI Bureau
New Update

When it comes to the e-governance space in India, Wipro Infotech is a name

one cant skip, simply because of the sheer enormity at which the company has

done e-governance projects. Wipro has developed the e-governance roadmap, and

helped build capacity for over thirteen state governments across India. Overseas

expansion is also on the map. Gopalakrishnan PK, vice president, government and

defence vertical, Wipro Infotech, popularly known as PKG in the industry, spoke

exclusively with Dataquest about a range of issues. Excerpts

Advertisment

Can you give a sense of Wipros areas of focus, and what the company is

doing and in the e-governance space in India?



There are broadly three things that we are currently focused onconsulting

and advisory services, software development and implementation, and finally

everything to do with infrastructure: designing, building, provisioning and

operating. So, when we offer consultancy we provide advisory services on how to

program a manage a project from the government side. Our e-governance advisory

service has the capability to deliver end-to-end service. Our consultants have a

combination of experience and expertise to design strategic roadmaps and

implementation blueprints. We basically do everything right from accomplishing

detailed initial analyses to architecting application solutions through

selection of appropriate technology, to implementation and maintenance.

Tamil Nadus MCD projects, Madhya Pradeshs project with the finance

department, and the recently bagged Municipal Corporation of Delhis project are

some examples of this. On the software development and implementation side we

are doing projects with the Central Board of Excise, land records, police, and

some other central ministries, and more importantly ministry of finance. We have

developed the e-governance roadmap, and also capacity building for over thirteen

state governments across India. So there is a lot happening there.

Then of course we are also doing the state data centers and the network

projects, right from designing to managing it. Rajasthan government and Gujarat

SWAN, some central ministries and defense projects can be counted among the

significant bunch of projects that we are doing.

Advertisment
Gopalakrishnan PK vice

president, government



& defence vertical, Wipro Infotech

Now, under this e-governance space we have categorized how we go for

consultancy, software development and implementation or infrastructure projects.

Though the parameters have been decided internally. By and large, we look at the

customers and their requirements and then we decide whether to go for

consultancy or bid for the project. Some other state governments that we

associated with are Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, HP, and Haryana.

Internally, how are you structured to handle e-governance projects?



In the government vertical we have a team of 100 consultants, however, in

the software development and implementation side the teams depend on the project

size. So we draw resources depending on project requirements, we could draw

resources from large central government projects or work out something.

Advertisment

Implementation of three to four projects is going on and also we are

currently setting up infrastructure for the Army and the Air Force. The value of

each of these projects varies from anywhere between Rs 5-10 crore. Most of the

other projects that we are implementing for the ministries range somewhere

between Rs 5-20 crore.

In fact, that is one of our biggest areas of concern because most vendors are

looking at large turnkey projects, whereas the government. tries to outsource

multiple vendors. There is clearly a problem with the conceptualization of

projects. The projects are much smaller, and lack of capacity to execute large

projects, that fear factor, whether the project will be a success is something

that has to be overcome. When it comes to conceptualizing project of big size,

the government has failed.

So far, in terms of value, which have been the top three projects for

Wipro?



There are a couple of them, I recall. There is a networking project with the

railways, worth Rs 25-30 crore. Then there is another railway optimization

project of Rs 40-50 crore. All Ministry of Finance projects are worth close to

Rs 40 crore.

Advertisment

Under the Government of Indias NeGP, what is the model that you are

following to build infrastructure as far as CSCs go?



On the CSC front, we are partnering with SREI, as the IT consultants. We are

responsible for the designing and development of portals, some backend

applications, backend data center, and front end kiosks; in other words the

complete IT backbone of the state. We did it for Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and

Assam among others. Although we are not doing it directly with IL&FS, because we

dont have that kind of business model. We dont think it is best suited for a

pure IT player. The whole CSC is like a BPO, and it is best suited for BPO

companies. We felt this really wasnt our core competency. Also one has to look

at the viability of the CSC project, whatever little success has been achieved,

it is because of private services. Government services are yet to be delivered.

What are the three primary focus areas during the ongoing financial year?



We plan to focus on state data centers, big passport size projects, and also

infrastructure management projects to support infrastructure.

And what is the revenue target for the financial year?



The target is anything upward of Rs 500 crore. Also I would like to mention

that if horizontal connectivity in SWAN comes up, we would be interested in

going for it.

Advertisment

Is there any plan to increase focus on government vertical overseas?



We are going to increase our focus on the government market overseas, but

not right now. We are eyeing Middle the East countries, specifically Dubai than

Western Europe. If the government overseas wants the services model than we

could think of going at it aggressively anytime.

In the Middle East, we already are focusing on some very special projects,

which include RTA in Dubai, and a couple of university projects. Some other key

projects include developing and implementing an overall IT plan and a roadmap

for ERP/LAN/Messaging/DMS/RIMS for the Saudi Electricity Regulatory Authority,

than we also have created and executed a framework for document management

system implementation for the Bahrain Monetary Agency.

Urvashi Kaul



urvashik@cybermedia.co.in

Advertisment