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State, TCS to form JV to make govt services available online
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State, TCS to form JV to make govt services available online
The Maharashtra government and India’s largest IT firm by revenues, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), are close to finalising a joint venture for an ambitious project that will provide citizens online access to government services.
TCS will hold a majority 74% stake in the venture to be called MahaOnline, and the state government will hold the remaining 26%, according to sources familiar with the deal.
A senior government official told ET that cabinet approval for the joint venture has already been obtained. A formal agreement between the two is expected to be signed shortly. The JV will be for a period of 10 years and can be extended with the consent of both partners, according to a government resolution (GR), a copy of which is available with this newspaper.
The proposal is currently awaiting approval from the TCS board, said a person with knowledge of the matter. TCS did not respond to an e-mail from ET requesting for more information, and all attempts to contact the IT secretary for details failed.
Like many big ticket government projects, the JV will earn revenues from the fees charged for accessing the services. Common service centres, which are being set up across 10,483 villages and 1,336 towns to provide citizens online access to government services such as land records and birth and death certificates, will also have to pay a percentage of their transaction fees to the JV.
Government departments, state corporations and voluntary organisations will also be encouraged to use the portal. The government departments will pay the JV Rs 25 for customisation of each file, up to a certain ceiling beyond which they will pay Rs 15, the GR states.
Many small and mid-size companies, which were competing for government projects, however, fear that the JV may put them at a disadvantage in bidding for other projects that are coming up in Maharashtra.
“The MahaOnline project should have also been tendered out. There are many firms that could have executed such a project, but it has been given to TCS,” said an executive with a rival firm.
Source:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Infotech/State-TCS-to-form-JV-to-make-govt-s
TCS will hold a majority 74% stake in the venture to be called MahaOnline, and the state government will hold the remaining 26%, according to sources familiar with the deal.
A senior government official told ET that cabinet approval for the joint venture has already been obtained. A formal agreement between the two is expected to be signed shortly. The JV will be for a period of 10 years and can be extended with the consent of both partners, according to a government resolution (GR), a copy of which is available with this newspaper.
The proposal is currently awaiting approval from the TCS board, said a person with knowledge of the matter. TCS did not respond to an e-mail from ET requesting for more information, and all attempts to contact the IT secretary for details failed.
Like many big ticket government projects, the JV will earn revenues from the fees charged for accessing the services. Common service centres, which are being set up across 10,483 villages and 1,336 towns to provide citizens online access to government services such as land records and birth and death certificates, will also have to pay a percentage of their transaction fees to the JV.
Government departments, state corporations and voluntary organisations will also be encouraged to use the portal. The government departments will pay the JV Rs 25 for customisation of each file, up to a certain ceiling beyond which they will pay Rs 15, the GR states.
Many small and mid-size companies, which were competing for government projects, however, fear that the JV may put them at a disadvantage in bidding for other projects that are coming up in Maharashtra.
“The MahaOnline project should have also been tendered out. There are many firms that could have executed such a project, but it has been given to TCS,” said an executive with a rival firm.
Source:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Infotech/State-TCS-to-form-JV-to-make-govt-s
