TCS gets Rs 1000 cr Passport Seva Project

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TCS gets Rs 1000 cr Passport Seva Project

Part of e-governance initiative to improve passport services in the country

CMN Correspondent

Monday, October 13, 2008

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NEW DELHI,INDIA: Leading IT services, business solutions and outsourcing firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) today has a signed a deal with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India, for the Passport Seva Project (PSP), the largest mission-critical e-governance project valued at over Rs 1000 crore.

After implementation of the project, which will be managed by TCS, the Ministry expects that the process of issuing a new passport will be completed in three working days while passports issued under the Tatkal scheme will be dispatched on the same day, subject to address and police verification of applicants.

"This PSP, based on a public-private partnership model, aims to provide passport-related services to Indian citizens in a speedy, convenient and transparent manner. The government will open 77 passport filing centres across the country," said Shivshankar Menon, foreign secretary of Ministry of External Affairs.

During the last eight years, the number of passports issued has almost tripled from 2.2 million in 2000 to six million in 2008.

It is expected that the ministry will issue 10 million passports in 2011. The project will be implemented within a Buy-Own-Operate-Transfer or BOOT framework with pilot projects operation within 19 months. TCS will have end-to-end responsibility of implementing this project.

"We believe that this mission mode project of national importance will make delivery of passport services truly world class in nature. We are delightful to partner with the Ministry and will surely initiate special security for PSP," said S Ramadorai, CEO and managing director of TCS.

"This project reiterates TCS' commitment to help government deliver citizen services more efficiently through technology and process improvements and will transform passport service delivery to the citizens of India," he added.

The PSP would digitize the entire passport services lifestyle and allow online filing of applications. Applicants also have the alternative option of filing the Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR)-enabled form, which along with all relevant documents will be scanned and submitted at passport facilitation centres.

These centres will be the primary hubs that will support all activities like biometric capture, photograph, payment and verification and grant of passports in the presence of applicants for most cases.

Tanmoy Chakrabarty, VP of Global Government Business Group said, "After the successful implementation of the MCA-21 program, the PSP will enable citizens to enjoy the benefits of a technology-led, service oriented approach to passports while ensuring that the proper security, safety and safeguards are maintained".

A call centre would be established to help the applicants with information regarding passport procedures and the status of submitted requests.

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