Logica wins Rs. 75 cr RBI contract

BANGALORE: Logica has won a contract with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for

the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system of India valued Rs. 75 crore.

According to an official release, the contract includes a new generation of high

value payments systems in India, a new core banking system for the RBI and

Logica's Quaestor product suite for all participating banks and financial

institutions.

The release further stated that Logica will implement a national RTGS system

which will allow all the banks in India to make secure inter-bank payments

across the country. The new core banking system will cover all the general

transactions and central accounting of the RBI, including the bank's general

ledger. The core banking system will run in Mumbai with Logica's Quaestor

Banking System running on the Microsoft Windows 2000 platform as the branch

front-end. Logica will also provide full disaster recovery capabilities.

Under this contract, Logica will supply its Quaestor banking product to 205

Indian banks and financial institutions to enable their direct participation in

the RTGS system. With a large number of participating banks in India and a

population in excess of one billion, the RTGS system of India is set to become

one of the highest volume RTGS payment systems in the world.

Logica India, managing director, Hamish Harding, said, "This project

will provide significant benefits to individuals and businesses throughout India

by allowing the transfer of funds from one customer to another at a different

bank immediately." By underwriting all payments with collateral held at the

Reserve Bank of India, the RTGS system will reduce 'systemic risk' in the

banking system, thereby providing increased integrity and security for all

inter-bank transactions, he added.

Logica India has been operating in India for the last five years and employs 250

staff. Logica has three offices in India - Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai, and is

involved in projects in the Indian banking and mobile telecoms fields.

Logica Plc is a leading global solutions company providing management and IT

consultancy, systems integration, products, services and support. Worldwide,

Logica's clients operate across diverse markets including telecoms, financial

services, energy and utilities, industry, distribution and transport and the

public sector. The company has over 12,000 staff in 30 countries and has

completed projects in over 100 countries worldwide.