HCL Infosystems bags Rs 1,000 cr order

IT firm HCL Infosystems on Monday said it has bagged an order of Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) from the Madhya Pradesh government for setting up food-coupon based public distribution system.

HCL Infosystems-led consortium has bagged this order, which would involve setting up a model of food and civil supplies distribution in Madhya Pradesh, based on the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) guidelines.

Other partners of the consortium include Accor Services and Virgo Softech. Spread over 78 months (6 years), the company expects over 10 million expected transactions per month (at Rs 10.98 per transaction per family), taking the order value to about Rs 856.44 crore (Rs 8.56 billion).

While the below poverty line (BPL) and Antyodaya Anna Yojana AAY (about 10 million) families would get access to the scheme for free, the above poverty line (APL) families (about eight million) will have to pay a one-time registration fee of Rs 250, aggregating to another Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion).

This watertight process would help eliminate misuse of subsidy and any irregularities through analysing accurate allocation that is linked to actual utilisation and also improve efficiency of the supply chain through timely reporting of stock lifting at fare price shops and godowns.

"We appreciate the vision of the Madhya Pradesh government to become the first state in India to allow technology intervention in revolutionising the PDS which is fraught with issues around efficiency and transparency," HCL Infosystems President and COO J V Ramamurthy said.

These food coupons will capture all biometric, tax, demographic and personal information details, enabling authorities to ensure proper distribution of food rationing and other benefits. The project will cover 50 districts and over 20,000 fair price shops in the state.

The project will be implemented in four phases over the period of 16-18 months. It would generate employment for over 3,000 people. Shares of HCL Infosystems were trading at Rs 104.15 on BSE, up 1.61 per cent from previous close.