TCS launches five point plan for effective e-Governance in India

New Delhi, June 9, 2008: In a White Paper released today, Tata Consultancy Services, the leading IT services, business solutions and outsourcing firm, has identified opportunities for improvement in e-Governance in India and provided recommendations to help the Indian government drive forward a program for comprehensive and effective e-Governance in the country.

The White Paper is an attempt by TCS to use its experience in e-Governance projects to define a road-map for India and highlight current impediments like a silo-based approach that is limiting the benefits of technology use.

The paper also highlights India’s low position in global e-Governance rankings, and the need to catalyse policy decisions to improve e-Governance in India. India’s per capita public sector IT spend is $1.29, compared to $199 in New Zealand and $153 in Singapore, for instance.

On the back of the findings, TCS has come up with a five point plan towards building an ideal e-Governance framework in India:

1. A nationwide mandate to allocate a fixed percentage (~3%) of the annual budget for e-Governance projects

2. The need to adopt an integrated and holistic approach focused on services

3. National level oversight of any e-Governance programme and thereby move from individualized e-Governance to institutionalized e-Governance

4. A Fixed Tenure concept where key government executives are appointed for the entire term of any e-Governance initiative

5. A government standing committee to oversee national eGovernance programs

S. Ramadorai , CEO and MD said: “If implemented properly, e-Governance can be an asset for the un-served and under-served areas in India and drive new efficiency gains nationwide. While Indian IT is the envy of the world and is associated with some of the most advanced and complex IT projects globally, India has not fully leveraged its potential of IT and the expertise of Indian IT industry.”

Mr Ramadorai added: “According to the WEF Global Information Technology Report, India ranks 44 out of 122 countries analysed and ahead of us are countries like Barbados, Latvia, Tunisia, Thailand and the Slovak Republic. Therefore,
there is tremendous potential for e-Governance to benefit citizens exponentially and maximize return on government investments.

“TCS has created a successful track record by implementing mission-mode e-Governance projects like the landmark MCA 21 programme. It is due to the digitization and total electronic filing system in MCA 21 that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has been able to handle such increase in volumes of registration of new companies as well as filing of annual returns seamlessly in the last two years, said Tanmoy Chakrabarty, Vice President and Head, Global Government Industry Solutions Unit.”

The newly constituted Government business unit in TCS will focus on city, state and national programmes to help governments become more efficient, drive down costs and increase transparency.

TCS, the largest Indian public sector service provider, according to leading technology analyst firms, is redefining Indian e-Governance by helping government departments to think about IT in terms of outcomes rather than technology as an input. TCS also recommends that projects are executed as PPPs (public-private-partnerships) as well as competitively bidding for all projects and the use of build-own-operate transfer models for e-Governance projects.

In the White Paper, TCS cites landmark Indian e-Governance projects including:

Project Akshaya: A technology dissemination project in Kerala providing IT access to the entire state by setting up IT centres within 2-3 kilometres of every household.

APOnline: The digital gateway providing multiple services for citizens in Andhra Pradesh, anytime anywhere. The self-sustaining delivery model has generated employment for over 2,000 people, with over 1,300 kiosks in operation. Benefits include greater transparency, convenience, accountability, lower costs and responsiveness. It has also delivered an improved image for the government with major cost savings.

e-Choupal: Information centres with connectivity linking farmers to global markets. This initiative is one of the largest IT based programmes in rural India and has transformed Indian farmers into progressive knowledge-seeking net-citizens.

Related post