Hughes to connect NABARD nodes

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Hughes Communications India, Ltd (HCIL), a subsidiary of Hughes Network Systems, LLC (Hughes), has been chosen by C-Edge to provide over 3,000 branches of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) across the country with a broadband satellite network and managed services.

The contract is worth Rs. 33 crores (approximately six million $) for a period of five years.

C-Edge, a joint venture between TATA Consultancy Services (TCS) and the State Bank of India (SBI), selected Hughes and its HN System for a turnkey networking solution and services to connect various District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) and State Apex banks in the country. The branches are being integrated onto a central Core Banking Solution, with the first phase covering the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

The managed services comprise over 3,000 HN9200 very small aperture terminals (VSATs) and shared Network Operations Centre (NOC) services, including satellite bandwidth, hosting, backhaul, and end-to-end IPSec management, as per a press note.

"We are delighted and privileged that C-Edge has chosen HCIL for this significant banking sector project," commented Partho Banerjee, president and managing director of HCIL. 

Approximately 140 banks have expressed their willingness to participate in the project and signed the necessary Memoranda of Agreement with NABARD. This strategy involves a major transformation of the current information technologies and a significant reengineering of the bank's business processes.