Express Computer (Vol.28, No.7) July, 2017

INDIA’S LEADING IT MAGAZINE

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EXPRESS COMPUTER AN INDIAN EXPRESS GROUP PUBLICATION

8 | FEATURE

VOLUME NO. 28, NO.7, PAGES 16, JULY, 2017, ` 75

How India’s largest electricity distribution utility uses technology to do automatic energy accounting

6 | FEATURE

11 | FEATURE

13 | OPINION

10 | FEATURE

How NPCI became the flag bearer of India’s digital revolution

Indian startups leverage Aadhaar as a springboard for growth

Sachin Joshi, Head, Indian Bridge Management System (IBMS)

Telangana takes huge digital push to transform education

How West Bengal is building a robust IT ecosystem The state of West Bengal is positioning itself to be a ‘State of Silicon’ by launching electronic clusters, building IT education institutions and encouraging a startup culture

Dr Amit Mitra, Minister for Finance & Excise,Commerce & Industries, Government of West Bengal

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EXPRESS COMPUTER | JULY, 2017

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EDIT

MORE INSIDE

EXPRESS COMPUTER Vol 28. No. 7. July, 2017 Chairman of the Board Viveck Goenka Sr Vice President - BPD Neil Viegas Editor Srikanth RP* Delhi Mohd Ujaley, Ankush Kumar, Mumbai Nivedan Prakash, Abhishek Raval Bangalore Rachna Jha

COVER STORY Srikanth RP, Editor srikanth.rp@expressindia.com

How West Bengal is using IT as a catalyst for growth

FEATURE

DESIGN National Design Editor Bivash Barua Asst. Art Director Pravin Temble Senior Graphic Designer Rekha Bisht Layout Vinayak Mestry Photo Editor Sandeep Patil

6 | How NPCI became the flag bearer of India’s digital revolution

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8 | How India’s largest electricity distribution utility uses technology to do automatic energy accounting

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4| How West Bengal is building a robust IT ecosystem

11 | Indian startups leverage Aadhaar as a springboard for growth

I

nformation Technology has always been known to be a driver of growth and prosperity. Not surprisingly, every state in India, has been trying to woo IT investments, as the sector has traditionally been the largest private sector employer in India.

While some states have publicly announced their initiatives, some like West Bengal have gone about quietly building the IT ecosystem. The state has made specific efforts to create growth in remote districts. Accordingly, many IT parks have been setup in Tier II and Tier II cities. Take for instance, a small place called Barjora which already has an operational

It is to West Bengal’s credit that the state has IT parks across the state, unlike other states which have developed specific regions

industrial park. Similarly, Purulia, which was earlier known for Maoist attacks, has a new IT park. This has helped the Government boost employment opportunities for the youth in remote districts. For example, in Siliguri, close to 700 people are already working in the IT park. Two hardware parks have been setup in Sonapur and Kalyani, and the government has announced plans to setup two

Navneet Negi Mobile No. +91 8800523285 Email: navneet.negi@expressindia.com CHENNAI Mathen Mathew The Indian Express (P) Ltd. Business Publication Division, 8th Floor, East Wing, Sreyas Chamiers Towers New No.37/26 (Old No.23 & 24/26) Chamiers Road, Teynampet, Chennai - 600 018 Mobile No. +91 9840826366 Email: mathen.mathew@expressindia.com BANGALORE Kailash Purohit The Indian Express (P) Ltd. Business Publication Division 502, 5th Floor, Devatha Plaza, Residency road, Bangalore- 560025 Mobile No. +91 9552537922, Email: kailash.purohit@expressindia.com

electronic manufacturing clusters in Naihati and Polta.

The state has other noteworthy achievements to its credit. The state has no paper registration for Value Added Tax (VAT). This process is entirely online. West Bengal has also adopted e-Kuber, a core banking solution developed by the Reserve Bank of India.

Interestingly, the state was the first to start using this application. Today, not a single rupee of the government has been disbursed by cash or by cheque. Every transaction happens entirely digitally, whether it is pension or salary, or any kind of disbursal involving citizens. The state is also one of the few states to announce a CoE on cyber security. Another first is the proposed analytics city in Kalyani, which is aimed at developing analytics expertise and giving opportunities to data analysts and data scientists in the state.

Another significant initiative is ‘Kanyashree’. This is a great example of how IT can be used for creating a positive social impact. Any girl whose family income is less than Rs 1,20,000 a year, can apply for a scholarship. Every girl, when she is of age 18 and is single will get Rs 25,000 electronically. Almost 40 lakh girls have registered for Kanyashree. The impact – a huge reduction in number of dropouts and infant mortality rates.

It is to West Bengal’s credit that the state has IT parks across the state, unlike other states which have developed specific regions. If the state succeeds in its vision of positioning West Bengal of being a gateway to the east, the state which is well known for its cultural roots, can prove to be the model state for other states in recognizing the potential of technology for transforming the lives of its citizens.

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12 | IT vendors see big opportunities in the Government sector

OPINION

14 | Techtonic push for the roads and highways in India Next in eGov: Governance in the age of Artificial Intelligence

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EXPRESS COMPUTER | JULY, 2017

4 | COVER STORY

HOW WEST BENGAL IS BUILDING A ROBUST IT ECOSYSTEM The state of West Bengal is positioning itself to be a ‘State of Silicon’ by launching electronic clusters, building IT education institutions and encouraging a startup culture Abhishek Raval abhishek.raval@expressindia.com

W

hen the All India Trinamool Congress came to office with Mamata Banerjee as the Chief Minister, her plan was to replicate the success in improving the efficiencies in the railways using IT, in the state of West Bengal. “She called me and said, you remember what we did in the railways, when I was the railway minister. She introduced e-tendering to make the tendering and procurement process transparent,” recollects Dr Amit Mitra, Minister for Finance & Excise,Commerce & Industries Government of West Bengal. Banerjee wanted Dr Amit Mitra to replicate a similar way of thinking, and use IT to transform the state of West Bengal.

Under an encouraging leadership, the state of West Bengal, is taking a series of initiatives to build a comprehensive IT ecosystem. In an effort to improve its internal efficiencies, the state has used technology to improve the way the government interacts with businesses.

For example, there is no paper registration for Value Added Tax (VAT) in West Bengal today. It’s entirely online with a digitized signature. The process to avail the VAT facility is simple. A business person can log in to the portal online, include the digitized signature and apply for VAT followed by the government acknowledging with a digitized signature.

It’s completely dematerialised. “No state in the country has been able to devise a similar process. We give a demat with a

Dr Amit Mitra, Minister for Finance & Excise,Commerce & Industries, Government of West Bengal

EXPRESS COMPUTER | JULY, 2017

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COVER STORY digitized signature back to the business person with no officers involved. You don’t have to meet anybody,” says Dr Mitra. For this initiative, the state government was awarded by the central government with the highest award in e-taxation. This system gave a cue to the state to integrate the entire tax collection system. By having the electronic process in taxation, the amount of tax amount collected doubled between the years 2010 - 11 to 2015 - 16. In 2010-11, the state received twenty one thousand crore of taxes. By 2015-16, it has exactly doubled to fortytwo thousand crore. “I don’t think, there is any example of this kind in the country. I would give a big chunk of the credit of that to IT,,” says Dr Mitra. Even a small dealer, who files a return, can comply with the system. It’s that simple. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) did a study in 2005 and found that the compliance level in different states was rather low. In West Bengal, it was between 40-50 percent. The next step was to integrate the whole system for the finance department. “We started the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS).

It took us 2 years. It was all outsourced. The Government materialised this through a PPP model. Last year, for the IFMS, we got the highest award in the country,” states Dr Mitra. West Bengal also adopted e-Kuber, a system that RBI has developed. No state was using it. A handshake was created between e-Kuber and IFMS and the state again became the first state in the country to use e-Kuber. The result was overwhelming. Post the integration, not a single disbursement rupee of the government has happened by cash or by cheque. Every transaction happens entirely digitally, whether it is pension, salaries, DBT or any kind of disbursal to the citizens.

“Again, I don’t think any state can claim that their entire budget is spent on a digital platform. So, as far as the financial management is concerned, we got the Golden Peacock award from the central government and many awards from different institutions,” adds Dr Mitra.

Learning from other states

IT PARKS

Cooch Behar Malda

Asansol

Krishnanagar

Durgapur

Bolpur Barjora

Rajarhat

Bantala

Purulia Kharagpur

IT ECOSYSTEM IN WEST BENGAL ◗ The Government has

launched a cyber security centre

◗ 2 hardware parks under construction in Kalyani and Sonarpur ◗ 2 electronics manufacturing clusters built in Naihati and Polta ◗ 200 crore allocated for

startups in the last year’s budget

◗ The Government has

launched ‘Bengalothon’ for new ideas in the form of IT solutions

Learning from other states West Bengal also believes in having an open mind and learning from other states.

Suppose, state X has done something that West Bengal can emulate, then the state sends its officers and learn. As a result of this open approach, many states today approach West Bengal to know how they designed the IFMS platform.

“What is important is interstate collaboration was initiated by us to learn the best practices. I must confess that we were on the greater receiving end. Since we had got many awards, a lot of states started coming to us,” shares Dr. Mitra. The project ‘Kanyashree’ is another example of how IT can be used in social transformation. The scheme goes like this: Any girl whose family income is less than Rs 1,20,000 a year, can

apply for a scholarship. Every girl, when she is of age 18 and is single will get twenty five thousand rupees, electronically, into her bank.

Almost 40 lakh girls has registered for Kanyashree.

West Bengal won the award for IT usage for a social programme, where everything is digital. This has resulted in significantly reducing the number of dropouts, and in turn, the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), as education has helped in preventing early marriages.

The state has also formed a separate department for egovernance. Initially, the IT department was responsible for e-governance but then every department was doing egovernance. So, given that e-

governance has been adopted by all the departments, the CM decided to have a separate department for e-governance.

So, instead of IT only, looking after e-governance, today, there is a dedicated arrangement for egovernance, wherein every department pools in knowledge and best practices.

Constructing IT parks across the state The state has also been proactive in ensuring that the IT infrastructure is not confined to urban areas. To encourage growth opportunities in Tier II and Tier III cities, the government has decided to construct IT parks across the state, even in remote districts. For example, an IT park in Rajarhat was set up. There were 48 modules available, and 39 out of those modules were taken by the private sector. The state, in order to gauge the response in remote districts, ventured to establish an IT park in Durgapur, a Tier II city. Today, the IT park is completely full.

All the 35 modules available have been taken. Barjora, a small place, between Bankura and Durgapur, already has an operational Industrial park, and there are 51 modules available. The state has started the marketing process.

A green field IT park has been developed in Asansol.

There are 38 modules, which are getting marketed. A few companies have started moving in. In Bolpur, which is

ENCOURAGING RESPONSE TO IT PARKS IN WEST BENGAL City /

Jalpaiguri

Siliguri, Siliguri Ph 2, Siliguri Ph 3

Modules Available / Being marketed

Modules Taken

Rajarhat

48

39

Durgapur

35

35

Barjora

51

Siliguri

34

Asansol

38

Bolpur

28

2

Purulia

29

4

Kharagpur

20

Kalyani

26

23

Howrah

23

7

Haldia

42

Taratala

40

Marketing process started 11 Marketing process started

Occupancy has begun

Marketing process started 20

Haldia

WEST BENGAL – A SNAPSHOT

550 25%

550 IT & ITeS companies operating in state, employing over 1,35,000 IT Professionals

West Bengal plans to raise its share in the country’s IT exports to 25% by 2030

16

16 IT Parks with world class facilities envisaged to generate 20,000+ employment opportunities

$30.02

Government of West Bengal allocated US$ 30.02 million for the development of the IT & Electronics department

USD

known for the famous Shantiniketan, 28 modules are being created and being marketed. Two companies have moved in within the first few days. In Purulia, a not so heard of district, a new IT park has come up, and 29 modules are available, and 4 of these modules have already been taken. This is noteworthy as this was an area where the maoists were active. But today, this is no longer the case. The West Bengal Government has spent 5,500 crore in maoist affected areas on Infrastructure, road, schools, colleges, etc. In the Kharagpur IT park, 20 modules have been built and the occupancy has begun. Kalyani, which has a IIIT also has an IT park with 26 modules and 23 have already been occupied. In Howrah, 23 modules have been made available and 7 have been occupied. Haldia, which is well known for Haldia Petrochem has 42 modules available.In Taratala, there are 40 modules built and half of them are occupied. The state is trying to develop not just the top districts but also the least developed.

The potential of the state to be a gateway for the east can be seen from the fact that customer care queries for Airtel from Bangladesh, is now being handled by a young team in Siliguri. This team is hosted in the same building that has a KPO handling customer queries for an American Insurance firm. The demand for the modules can be seen from the fact that out of 34 modules available, 11 modules have been taken. There is big demand for the remaining ones.

Attracting the force of startups The West Bengal Government along with NASSCOM have launched a startup warehouse in a 10,000 sq ft plot acquired by the state.

The plot is full and occupied.

There are about 5 startups, who have got VC and angel funding. This is another dimension of the IT effort and the effort is to bring in startups jointly with NASSCOM. IT education infrastructure is also being built. The state did not have a IIIT, when the current government came to office. So,

The state’s vision is multifarious with an attempt to put a firm foundation for the state to be enabled by IT; not just having an electronically connected Government machinery but also empowering the length and breadth of West Bengal by launching electronic clusters, IT education institutions, boosting a startup culture and coming up with a comprehensive ecosystem to make IT as a centrifugal force running the state of West Bengal

private college in Kalyani and a lab was set up. It’s now being handled by IIT-Kharagpur, which is also the mentor,” shares Dr Mitra. In the same city Kalyani University and AIIMS is getting constructed.

It’s now becoming an educational hub. A data analytics park is also coming up in Kalyani and the state government is looking for an anchor investor.

As one can see, the state’s vision is multifarious with an attempt to put a firm foundation for the state to be enabled by IT; not just having an electronically connected Government machinery but also empowering the length and breadth of West Bengal by launching electronic clusters, IT education institutions, boosting a startup culture and coming up with a comprehensive ecosystem to make IT as a centrifugal force running the state of West Bengal.

it was decided to have a IIIT. The land was allocated and a fast track route was taken in order to get it up and running.

“We took the land from a

- Quotes attributed to Dr. Amit Mitra, have been sourced from the inaugural speech delivered at Technology Senate held in Kolkata on June 8, 2017

EXPRESS COMPUTER | JULY, 2017

6 | FEATURE

HOW NPCI BECAME THE FLAG BEARER OF INDIA’S DIGITAL REVOLUTION

FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS to becoming a torchbearer of India’s digital revolution, NPCI has come a long way. Today, the organization is credited with launching several innovations that have no parallel in the world. The organization is perhaps the best example of what a state-owned enterprise can achieve, if guided with the right vision Srikanth RP srikanth.rp@expressindia.com

N

PCI was setup as an umbrella institution for all the retail payment systems in the country, with the core objective of consolidating and integrating multiple systems into a nationwide standard business platform for all retail payment systems.

Today, the firm has

undoubtedly achieved its position as one of the best known innovators with a huge number of innovations such as IMPS, National Payments Switch, RuPay, Bharat Bill Payment System and more recently, UPI and BHIM. In January 2010, NPCI started off on a humble note with 1.8 million ATM transactions (with 37 member banks) as a transfer of financial responsibility from the National Financial Switch

IMPS

NATIONAL PAYMENTS SWITCH

(NFS) from IDRBT to NPCI. Today, this business has grown to 100 member banks with a daily average transaction count of 11 million. Currently, all the 2,35,000 ATMs are interoperable.

The other services that were handed over to RBI from NPCI included cheque clearing and Automated Clearing House (ACH).

Currently ninety six percent of the cheque clearing in the country happens on NPCI’s cheque truncation system.

Recollecting the past, A P Hota, Managing Director, NPCI, says, “NPCI was entrusted with upgrading the Electronic Clearing System (ECS) credit and debit systems. There are 1200 banks that are a part of the system and have an infrastructure that can support 50 million transactions a day. These are the 3 activities that RBI had handed over to us and NPCI has also built quite a few systems. The maiden system built by NPCI was Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), a real time money transfer on a 24/7 basis. India is the first

BharatQR

NPCI: LIST OF PRODUCTS DEVELOPED

RuPay

BHIM

UPI

BHARAT BILL PAYMENT SYSTEM

country in the world to have built this system with real time availability.”

What’s noteworthy is that India started the system of providing immediate payment.

“We are the model for many countries in the world for giving real time credits. Apart from India, there are about 16-17 countries in the world providing real time credit.

IMPS is a system that India can take pride in,” opines Hota.

As an improvement of the IMPS system, NPCI brought out the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). It operates on the top of IMPS and facilitates immediate-sent and immediate- collect. The money transfer is also possible on a virtual Payment Address (VPA), where the customer need not share his account details. Just an email like address is adequate.

Huge success of RuPay Another big product that has been a huge success is the RuPay card. The card base with three hundred fifty million is the highest. What is noteworthy is the fact that this has been achieved in a short span of 4-5 years. “NPCI has a market share of forty percent in terms of the volume of cards. ATM transactions wise, NPCI has thirty percent market share. For PoS and ecommerce, the market share is 10 percent. RuPay has been made the default card for government schemes. The cards are being issued by about 688 banks in the country. Visa and MasterCard have been in the country for four decades during which they gave the card facility to fifty four banks. NPCI in just 4 years, has been able to bring six hundred eighty eight eight banks in the card payment ambit in the country. It’s a remarkable achievement,” opines Hota.

RuPay is now accepted in PoS and ATMs. NPCI has also launched the Aadhaar based Payment System (AePS).

“Using Aadhaar, we have built two systems, one is called the Aadhaar payments bridge, and the other called Aadhaar enabled payment system. The Aadhaar payments bridge helps in making payments

We are the model for many countries in the world for giving real time credits. Apart from India, there are about 16-17 countries in the world providing real time credit. IMPS is a system that India can take pride in A P Hota Managing Director, NPCI

which can be used in paying salaries, in the Direct Benefit Transfer Payments (DBT), LPG subsidy, MNREGA payments, etc. The AePS enables daily transactions with Aadhaar authentication.

This facility is used by one hundred and twelve banks.

About fifty of them are interoperable on this service.

It means the business correspondent of one bank can service the customer of other banks,” says Hota.

For feature phones, NPCI has created a feature phone based mobile payment system called USSD. This provides easy access of e-payments from ordinary features phones. The average daily transactions on USSD is close to 6,50,000. This number used to be about 1,50,000 prior to demonetization. The NPCI will soon bring a common app for the benefit of those banks who have not developed any app for their consumers. The USSD infrastructure is also upgraded to provide an UPI like experience on the feature phone.

Another less talked about innovation is the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS). It brings all the billers like power distribution companies, telcos, DTH operators, and different kind of utility companies (water, gas companies) on a common platform for sharing of bill information. On a service outlet or a Citizen Service Centre (CSC), all types of bills can be paid because they are connected to the national platform. BBPS has just started on August 30,

2016. “In the first three months, we have rolled out about twenty banks and eighteen billers. Most of the billers are electricity companies. Efforts are on to bring fifty large banks in the country and also about three hundred billers in the next few months.

The last major initiative which is operational is the National Electronic Toll Collection System (NETCS).

Using RFID technology, the vehicles with the RFID tags can move seamlessly along the lanes fitted with electronic toll collection (ETC). All the ETCs on the national highways will all be a part of the toll collection system. The system has been running for the last two years with ICICI Bank as the only issuer. “We have taken up the work of clearing and settlement after the service was open to all the banks and the need for clearing house was felt. NPCI provides that clearing house and reconciliation system and daily about 95,000 transactions are cleared. As of now, only the national highway toll plazas are connected and are a part of the network. State highway toll plazas are yet to be connected. On an experimental basis, we have taken the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, which is a straight highway. In a year’s time, we propose to bring a few more state highways to be added on the network,” says Hota.

Continued innovation NPCI continues to make huge strides. For instance, the BHIM app, which was launched recently for fast and secure cashless transactions has recorded close to 20 million downloads. More recently, NPCI announced the launch of a mobile application for Aadhaar-based payments through BHIM App for merchants. The BHIM Aadhaar app works on NPCI’s existing product – Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS). It allows the customer to make purchases using their Aadhaar number linked with their bank account. The transaction just requires a customer’s fingerprint for authentication. This product will cater to about 40 crore bank account customers spread across the country whose account is linked with Aadhaar.

NPCI has also collaborated with institutions such as Mastercard and Visa to develop BharatQR, an interoperable and low cost acceptance solution.

BharatQR has three key benefits. First, consumers will not need to scan different QR codes at the same merchant provided by the different payment networks.

Secondly, merchants will only need to display one QR code at the storefront or through the acquiring bank’s mobile application. Third, the underlying specification for BharatQR can be implemented in other countries to deliver a globally interoperable solution.

The list of innovations that have been pioneered by NPCI can be considered equivalent to those pioneered by established technology giants such as Google and Microsoft.

NPCI’s success shows that if there is a strong will, even state-owned institutions can raise the bar for innovation to a different level.

MILESTONES

0 13.9

N I O L L I M

Number of BHIM app downloads crosses 13.90 million (May 2017)

11 MILLION

National Financial Switch (NFS) has grown to 100 member banks with a daily average transaction count of 11 million

50 B A N K S

Unified Payments Interface (UPI) offered by over 50 banks in the country

112 B A N K S

Aadhaar-enabled Payments System (AePS) used by 112 banks

PIONEERING INITIATIVE: DIGITIZATION OF MICROFINANCE INDUSTRY There are 268 Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) catering to over 40 million low income customers.

While digitization has been implemented in the backend processes, the products are still delivered in operational models which are high on human touch and there is use of cash based disbursal and repayments. Digitizing cash based operations has the potential to bring a host of benefits to MFIs as it mitigates cash carrying risks and improves operational efficiency by saving time for frontline staff, and lead to diversification of products offered to consumers and enable innovation of customer centric offerings based on critical insights sourced from digital data collected over time on customer behavior.

NPCI has rightly recognized the immense potential to digitize this sector, and has begun a pilot project to digitize the transactions in MFIs. A simple innovative use of the Aadhaar Payment Bridge System (APBS) and USSD-based *99# infrastructure has made this possible. The customer’s Aadhaar numbers are collected and sent to the disbursing bank for onward direct credit to account using APBS. According to AP Hota, the potential of such a system in the MFI sector for digitization of payments is as high as 80 million annual disbursements and over 900 million repayment transactions

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EXPRESS COMPUTER | JULY, 2017

8 | FEATURE

HOW INDIA’S LARGEST ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION UTILITY USES TECHNOLOGY TO DO AUTOMATIC ENERGY ACCOUNTING THE CHALLENGES IN the power sector in India are changing. A few years ago, power generation was the most immediate challenge. Now, power distribution is a major hurdle, as power generated has to be consumed immediately. As the world’s second largest distribution utility, Mahavitaran, faced a similar challenge, and it used the power of technology to transform itself significantly Abhishek Raval abhishek.raval@expressindia.com

T

he power network is a live network.

Whatever that is generated has to be consumed immediately. If the generation is not predictable, then power demand management goes for a toss.

With more units of energy being sourced from renewable sources, integration of traditional sources of energy like coal with renewable power is a major challenge. Most of the renewable sources of energy barring solar are informal. There is no surety about when the power will come, how much power will come.

IT can play a big role in transforming this sector, as power distribution companies will be in a position to use high end IT for effective power distribution and predicting customer demand. This can play a big role in improving efficiencies, and in generating enough cash to have sustainable operations. This is particularly important as most power distribution companies have been reeling under huge debt. India’s largest electricity distribution utility and the second in the world, MAHAVITARAN, is a case in point.

Using the power of IT, the company has tripped losses to a major extent. The company has used technology as an enabler to provide good services to the customers (this included employees apart from the electricity subscribers) and it was used as a natural tool to understand what’s happening in the network. To improve efficiencies, employees were given mobile apps designed for their tasks. A mobile app was designed for field employees (linesman, meter reader), who could enter field related information directly on the app and did not need to come back to the office to type it out. This was done because MAHAVITARAN realized that external customers could not be serviced without employees being empowered adequately.

The subscribers could not be satisfied with an unsatisfied employee base.

Today, when an employee goes on the field for meter reading or to issue a connection, he can just use any smartphone to carry out his work. The moment a connection is issued, there are about 2-3 necessary details to be uploaded. Certain details are prefilled in his app, so that details need not be refilled during every visit such as the mobile number of the consumer or the meter number

of the consumer. As soon as the data is uploaded, it is relayed to the company’s server and the bill is generated. This a big saver for the consumer and the company employee. There are no unforeseen hassles for the employee who need not go back to the office to enter the details.

In addition, a separate app has been provided to the lineman to key in details of the change in the feeder, when it malfunctions. A feeder is basically a medium through which power hops to the consumer. At times, the feeder of the distribution lines malfunctions. It takes time to repair it. The lineman in response to public pressure, changes the feeder to restore power. However when the feeder is changed, it is akin to changing a network Explaining the severity of the problem, Sanjeev Kumar (IAS), CMD, MAHAVITARAN, states, “When the energy accounting happens, there is no compilation of how many feeders were changed in which area. It’s like a wholesaler is sending the goods to a middleman and just before the truck is delivered, the goods are changed and there is no note taken as to what was changed and in how much quantity. This is a common issue that every power company faces.”

To prevent this issue, the company has provided a mobile app to the field staff.

Now, every instance of change in feeder is uploaded on the app along with every required detail. These details are relayed to the server. The information is recorded as to which consumers got the electricity from the changed feeder and the details of the feeder that was changed. This has allowed power restoration to the consumers in under 24 hours. Previously, this used to take days. Now, the company knows what’s happening in the network, which wasn’t the case earlier. The apps also capture the geo co-ordinates of the meters, which ensure that the employees in the corporate office know that the information has been uploaded from the location where the meter is based and not from anywhere else. Why is this important? This is important as the company now knows that the employee has actually done the meter reading and the consumer cannot complain about the bill amount being wrong or exaggerated or claim that the meter reader did not visit his house. The employee also takes the photograph of the meter. In case the network is unavailable in the area where the meter reading is done, the phone has the

energy distributed, on an overall basis and also geographically. “The company has close to accurate data on how much energy flowed in any given month in a particular location. This data helps in comparing the amount of energy flow and the amount billed on that day,” says Kumar.

If less amount is billed, it means, there has been a lag in billing. Thus automatic energy accounting becomes possible, and a system generated email is sent to the concerned employees. “I believe, no power distribution company in the country has been thus far been able to reach to the extent of sending data accounted on a daily basis on how much energy was transmitted from the distribution lines and how much was billed,” says Kumar.

Previously, the data about the amount of energy consumed was made available only after 3 months. Now, it’s available daily through the app. Thus, if in a particular area, there is a big mismatch between the energy flow and the amount billed, the concerned employee can be held accountable immediately.

What’s noteworthy is the fact that this is a solution built in house. The code was written by the employees of the company.

This solution has been shared with the Secretary, Power of the Central Government and also with the Madhya Pradesh Government. Some private firms have showed interest in understanding how this is done at MAHAVITARAN.

IT FOR AUTOMATIC ENERGY ACCOUNTING The biggest challenge any power distribution company in India faces, is energy accounting The capability developed by MAHAVITARAN to do energy accounting on a daily basis has powered the company to reduce the distribution losses by up to 3 percent, which is about 1500 cr annually With the availability of real time data coming in through the apps, ithe company can do the energy accounting on a daily basis, which helps in understanding where the money is being lost or gained

capacity to store about ten thousand meter readings and whenever the network is available, there is automatic data synchronization.

IT initiatives at the back-end MAHAVITARAN has the mobile numbers of 1.28 crore consumers captured in the system. “In the last one year, we have reached this number from 16 lakh consumers,” claims Kumar. Every time, the data from the meter of the consumer is uploaded from the mobile app, it approximately takes 5 mins to hit the server.

Instantly, the consumers get an SMS about the time of the meter reading and the bill amount. This is a great empowerment of the consumer.

Previously, it took about a month for consumers to know about these details. When the bill is not delivered, the consumer was clueless. Now, in case, the consumer feels there is an error in the bill, the meter reader can be contacted, based on his geo co-ordinates and

asked by the HQ to immediately visit the consumer. 1.28 crore consumers are getting this SMS every month, whenever, their meter is read. Bill due data messages are sent and similarly, other forms of communication are sent to the consumer. In case a consumer is not at home, the meter reader sends a message asking the consumer to upload the meter reading himself on the app that he can download. “In the future, if there is a possibility, we are also exploring whether the consumer can self service and send the data, so, there is no need for the meter reader to personally visit the consumer.

While I am attempting to restructure the company, one of the objectives is gaining customer trust, drastically reduce compliance cost and bring in ease of operations of the employees of the company,“ says Kumar.

Energy accounting leads to tripping distribution losses An important initiative being currently undertaken is

restructuring of the ERP. With the availability of real time data coming in through the apps, it enables the company to do the energy accounting on a daily basis, which helps in understanding where the money is being lost or gained.

Basically, the role of the distribution company is to purchase electricity from the power generation company and selling it to the consumers. “If I am able to tally the accounts daily, I know, where am I gaining or losing money. The capability developed by MAHAVITARAN to do energy accounting on a daily basis has powered the company to reduce the distribution losses by up to 3 percent, which is about 1500 cr annually,“ claims Kumar.

The biggest challenge any power distribution company in India faces, is energy accounting. Not many companies are able to manage energy accounting on a daily basis. “We are able to do it daily,” claims Kumar. When the energy flows from the service

station, from the transmission lines, it gets recorded in the Automatic Meter Reader (AMR). It then comes to the service station of MAHAVITARAN. These service stations are also metered. The company has about 20,000 feeders and 3,000 service stations. These are basically the channels through which the power flows and finally reaches the consumer. Close to 6-7,000 meters are AMR. To get data from the non AMR meters was a challenge. An app has been given to the service station incharge, whose responsibility is to feed the data at least thrice a day. Once a day, is compulsory.

This simple change management exercise has enabled the company to get the data on how much energy flew from a particular feeder. As feeders are segregated on the basis of the geographical configuration (state, region, zone, circle, division, subdivision), the company is able to find out at the end of every month the total amount of

The future The plan now, is to use this system at the Distribution Transformer (DT) level. Every DT has five hundred consumers and it’s relatively easy to pinpoint where the electricity theft is happening based on the energy flowed in a particular DT and the amount billed. The plan is also to use big data analytics in furthering the fight against power theft.

In the next few years, the vision is to bring the information of the entire power distribution network on the mobile; enabling GIS based consumer mapping and identifying areas where the most instances of power theft occur and do a crackdown.

Mobile enabling the consumer related information for the employees is also on the cards. The effort is also to engineer processes such that there is no need for the consumer to physically visit the company’s office but complete the formalities sitting at home.

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EXPRESS COMPUTER | JULY, 2017

10 | FEATURE Telangana takes huge digital push to transform education AS PART OF ICT based initiatives, the Telangana State Board of ntermediate Education has made gross investments of around ` 25 crore in the past two years on computerization, CCTV & biometrics installation, in addition to developing innovative apps for students Ankush Kumar ankush.kumar@expressindia.com

I

n a bid to bridge the digital divide and provide transparency and efficiency in the state owned education system, the government of Telangana has taken major tech-based initiatives. The Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education with the mandate to regulate and supervise the system of intermediate education in the state has invested heavily on technology equipments, services and application in the government schools. As part of the ICT based initiatives, the board has made gross investments of around ` 25 crores in the last two years. Out of this around ` 10 crore was spent on computerization of schools with another 10 crore on installation of CCTV and biometrics and ` 5 crore in developing various innovative online applications for students.

“For a holistic transformation of governance in the education sector, IT is extremely important,” says Dr A Ashok, Secretary, Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education (TSBIE). He took charge two years ago when the state was about to launch the Digital Telangana programme. “We have 22 services delivered to around 10 lakh students.

Earlier these services were manual and the students had to get into a long queue to get various kinds of educational certificates where they were exploited by the middlemen. To improve efficiency and transparency

in the system, we started online services and minimized human contact.”

Harnessing the power of mobility The board has recently launched a ‘Centre Locator’ app that helps students to locate their examination centre easily. “The app tells the exact distance and location of the examination centre from the student’s residence. It also identifies the exact building of the examination centre along with the shortest possible route and traffic jam possibilities in realtime. So far, around 1300 examination centers throughout the state have been geo-tagged,” informs Ashok.

Earlier the students used to face a huge problem as sometimes they ended up reaching a wrong college and by the time they realized it’s not the correct examination centre, it was too late for them. In the recently held intermediate exams in the state, the intermediate board has declared that no student will be allowed into the examination hall even if they are one minute late.

The board has also introduced a mobile governance application that offers various student related services through mobile. “Students can simply download the app and can easily apply directly for the certificate. A certificate preview is generated through the app and the printout can be taken directly from anywhere. Similarly, certificates like migration certificate, pass certificate and duplicate marks certificate can also be availed in this manner.”

Talking about the transparency in the examination process and ensuring a level playing field for every student, Ashok informs, “We have also digitized the system as now the online question paper reaches the examination center just minutes before the start of the exam with an OTP protected password. The OTP is given just 15 minutes before the start of the examination. Therefore there is no room for any kind of cheating or manipulation.” If there is a paper leak, there may be cases where students entering late in the examination centers are already aware of the questions. So in this way, when students are not allowed to enter late and the question paper which is also encrypted is reaching through digital medium, the chances of any unfair practices will be curbed.

TSBIE intends to develop a complete Learning Management System (LMS) where students can avail various tools for learning. This includes web-resources, video-lectures, animated demonstrations and self-evaluation exercises Dr A Ashok Secretary, Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education (TSBIE)

Digital classrooms As part of a futuristic strategy to strengthen the education system, the state is working on concepts like virtual classroom, digital learning, and digital study kits to make students more competitive. “We see a huge opportunity in virtual labs as government funding is limited and it is a very cost effective concept that saves infrastructure cost, lab maintenance cost, lab equipment cost, etc. The aim is to provide remote-access to laboratories in various disciplines of science and engineering for students at all levels from under-graduates to research.”

TSBIE also intends to develop a complete Learning Management System (LMS) where the students can avail various tools for learning, including additional web-resources, video-lectures, animated demonstrations and self-evaluation.

There is also a component wherein costly equipment and resources are shared that are normally available to only a limited number of users due to constraints on time and geographical distances.

To bring self-discipline among the principal, teaching, non-teaching staff and students, the board has introduced biometrics and CCTV cameras. “We have around 404 government colleges in the state and many principals and lecturers in these institutions never used to come on time for decades. So we have installed CCTV cameras and biometrics and now they have to rush to reach the institute on time. This system has improved efficiency.”

In addition the board has plans to make digital libraries in all government colleges. “This consists of the use of digital and robo-learning tools and augmented reality. By the use of these concepts, the students will have a better understanding of the subject and they would be able to retain the learning for a long time which will help them to score more,” explains Ashok.

There are about 10 lakh students in Telangana colleges. Approximately

TOTAL INVESTMENT ON IT IN EDUCATION

` 25 C R O R E S

` 10 C R O R E S

` 10 crore was spent on computerization of schools

Investment of ` 25 crores in ICT based initiatives in the last two years

by Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education

` 10 C R O R E S ` 10 crore on installation of CCTV and Biometrics

`5 CRORES

` 5 crore has been invested in developing innovative apps for students

404 colleges

2 lakh

Around 404 government colleges in the state

100 classrooms

The goal is to virtualize 100 classrooms by next acadimic session

2 lakh students are from government colleges. The government’s goal is to virtualize 100 classrooms out of

2 lakh students are from government colleges

1300

examination centers Around 1300 examination centers in Telangana have been geo-tagged

approximately 404 state government colleges in the beginning of the upcoming academic year.

EXPRESS COMPUTER | JULY, 2017

| 11

FEATURE

Indian startups leverage Aadhaar as a springboard for growth THE MAMMOTH REACH of Aadhaar enables startups to tap into a readilyavailable infrastructure, and allows them to compete at a level playing field with large established enterprises

1

MILLION CUSTOMERS

Srikanth RP srikanth.rp@expressindia.com

Reliance Jio signed up 1 million customers a day by leveraging Aadhaar enabled eKYC

T

hink about this!

Reliance Jio signed up 1 million customers a day by leveraging eKYC. With just an Aadhaar number, a customer could cut through the maze of signing up and producing multiple documents and get his Reliance Jio connection activated within a few minutes. What Reliance Jio could achieve was just a glimpse of the potential of Aadhaar – a platform that has already crossed 1 billion registrations.

The promise of instant authentication is extremely useful for startups. Consider a process where customers have to provide identity proof and address proof in the form of physical documents. By using Aadhaar for authentication, the KYC norms can be fulfilled instantly. Using an API request, a startup can query the Aaadhar database to check the identity of a person. This opens up immense possibilities. For example, a startup called TrustId uses Aadhaar to help enterprises do a quick KYC for hiring employees and also for hiring service professionals such as drivers, plumbers or security guards.

The mammoth reach of Aadhaar enables startups to tap into a readily-available infrastructure, and allows them to compete at a level playing field with large established enterprises.

Aadhaar, hence, gives startups a quick jumpstart over established firms, as they do not have the necessary infrastructure or the resources to sign up customers. A case in point is Digio, a Bangalore-based startup, which has built a digital signature gateway platform built atop Aadhaar.

This is a SaaS based platform and integrates with existing business applications to enable users to sign online.

Says Sanket Nayak, CoFounder, Digio, “With Aadhaar, the cost of operations can be easily cut down by a factor of

70%, while the time taken for completing a process can be cut down to minutes from days.” To explain his point, Sanket Nayak gives the example of a demat account opening process, where a person has to typically sign on more than 25 different places on paper documents. With eKYC, this entire process can be done in a single click.

Hence, Aadhaar can be used effectively for any process (such as on boarding of customers), where there is extensive documentation involved.

Another startup, Tapits Technologies, has developed Fingpay, a solution that allows customers to shop by just using their finger. With Fingpay, customers can pay for products, services and utilities at POS from any of their bank accounts and wallets with just a scan of a finger.

Explaining the importance of Aadhaar, Pratyush Halen, CEO, Tapits Technologies, says, “Aadhaar is a Pratyush Halen Fingpayvery open network which allows everybody to connect and leverage its services. Earlier, authentication and eKYC, was difficult and had lot of cost and time implications, chances of fraud and possibility of human errors. Aadhaar made this easy, simple and secure. As Aadhaar is open for everyone, startups like us are able to quickly connect with it and innovate by understanding the

THE AADHAAR ADVANTAGE Startup

Solution

Digio

Has built a digital signature gateway platform built atop Aadhaar

Tapits Technologies

Has developed Fingpay, a solution that allows customers to shop by just using their finger

LegalDesk.com

Has created a unique service using Aadhaar, wherein customers can authenticate their legal documents such as affidavits using Aadhaar

pain points in existing services and infrastructure, and build a solution over it. The speed with which the startups like us could develop over it helps us to quickly deploy our solutions.”

The promise of scale with trust For sectors like financial services, where trust is everything, Aadhaar can prove to be a significant differentiator. States Rohan Angrish, CTO, Capital Float, “Aadhaar has given you ‘Trust as a Service’. If someone comes to you for a financial service or for a transaction, Aadhaar will tell you that they are indeed who they say they are. Now you can trust this person and you can go about conducting your business. Trust as a service has huge implications, and the sky is the limit” The possibilities are immense, and examples can be seen in multiple sectors. Take for instance, startup firm, LegalDesk.com, which has created a unique service using Aadhaar. LegalDesk.com’s customers can authenticate their legal documents such as affidavits using Aadhaar.

Explains Ashok Kadsur, CoFounder LegalDesk.com, “At LegalDesk.com, our customers draft legal documents on their own, using our drafting software. We started using Aadhaar based eSignatures, so that the documents can be signed electronically in a matter of minutes. We used to print the documents on stamp paper and deliver, but now we have enabled eSign so that people can complete the paperwork completely online.”

LegalDesk.com’s Aadhaar based eSign service eSignDesk.com was launched

by Nandan Nilekani, the key architect of the Aadhaar platform. By using Aadhaar, the startup has speeded up the legal documentation process.

Now organizations can digitize their documentation process by using Aadhaar based eSign. For example,

The entire subsidy system can be re-imagined on outcome based direct payment just using Aadhaar and the Aadhaar Payment Bridge Pramod Varma Chief Architect, Aadhaar

LegalDesk.com is helping organizations such as Akshaya Patra use Aadhaar based eSign so that organization representatives can electronically sign documents with their donors and vendors, using its eSign product.

The future of Aadhaar Considering Aadhaar’s immense potential, the future is bright as the possibilities are limited only by imagination. Pramod Varma, Chief Architect, Aadhaar shares the impact that can be made by Aadhaar when he says, “The Aadhaar Payment Bridge (APB) built by NPCI through which money can be sent to an Aadhaar holder is extremely innovative. The entire subsidy system can be re-imagined on outcome based direct payment just using Aadhaar and APB. APB is so simple that it allows DBT (Direct Benefits Transfer) at scale and for Aadhaar holders true Bank account portability!

Another innovation that is yet to fully take shape is the Iris

enabled smartphones and other devices. With less than 5 USD bill of material cost along with high accuracy, it can change the way users authenticate in future.”

The biggest advantage of Aadhaar is its promise of interoperability, and the same platform can be used, even if the person moves across the country. This is of tremendous advantage to professionals who do not have to submit different sets of documents when they move across the country. The other big impact area could be healthcare, as patients can share their information with insurance providers or doctors, by just using their Aadhaar number.

Says Tamaal Roy, CEO, Biomatiques Identification Solutions, “In the healthcare sector, a patient’s medical history and personal information is very critical and confidential which should be accessible only when the patient or doctor is available.

Biometric technologies will help patients to avoid carrying any physical documents while visiting medical practitioners and allowing the practitioner to retrieve medical history of the patients without any gaps and resulting into right diagnosis.”

Talking about the possibilities of using Aadhaar, Pramod Varma, says, “In my opinion, the financial sector itself has not fully taken advantage of Aadhaar, eSign, etc for instant paperless services. I am sure we will see more of that in the coming year. In addition, I would like to see it being used for providing universal healthcare that everyone can self-enroll and take advantage. Of course, identity is core to most systems and Aadhaar and India Stack (Aadhaar, eSign, Digital Locker, UPI, and Electronic Consent Framework) will surely play a key role in many other domains in the coming years.”

With the scale and simplicity of design, Aadhaar may become the sole identity

card in the future. Says Varma, “Aadhaar is already a virtual identity with no need for a paper printout. Aadhaar holders can assert their identity anytime anywhere just using their fingerprint/iris without having any paper. But, our systems and thinking are still in a paper world and this will take some time to adopt newer methods. We just have to be patient and they will change as they see value in adopting paperless and fully digital processes. “ Many government offices too have introduced Aadhaar enabled biometric systems to mark attendance. Even at fair price shops, the verification of the individual is done based on Aadhaar, which ensures that the right person is getting the right benefits. This has led to a rise in demand for biometric and Iris recognition systems.

Says Roy of Biomatiques Identification Solutions, “We have successfully supplied 33,310 scanners to the government of Andhra Pradesh which are being implemented for pension and ration distribution.” Roy believes that Aadhar will soon be a reality in all walks of life, from digital transactions to government dealings to even SIM card purchases.

Aadhaar’s open architecture allows startup firms to develop innovative solutions on top of the platform. For example, firms such as OnGrid and TrustId use Aadhhar for verifying the credentials of candidates and doing background verification, while other firms such as Truce are using Aadhaar to verify the identity of farmers.

With large scale adoption, India is one of the few countries in the world to have such a large biometric database available. The possibilities for startups to leverage Aadhaar are huge, as trust is the bedrock of every transaction, and Aadhaar can be used to authenticate any transaction or service quickly and cost effectively.

Aadhaar has given you ‘Trust as a Service’. If someone comes to you for a financial service or for a transaction, Aadhaar will tell you that they are indeed who they say they are Rohan Angrish CTO, Capital Float

With Aadhaar, the cost of operations can be easily cut down by a factor of 70%, while the time taken for completing a process can be cut down to minutes from days Sanket Nayak Co-Founder, Digio

EXPRESS COMPUTER | JULY, 2017

12 | FEATURE

IT vendors see big opportunities in the Government sector Machine learning and artificial intelligence are going to aid the government to provide frictionless citizen services Dr Niraj Prakash Director – Applications Sales Consulting, Oracle India

Cloud promotes ease of interaction with citizens and businesses, ultimately delivering better governance to the citizen Sanjeev Gupta Country General Manager – Public Sector, Microsoft India.

AS THE INDIAN government goes on a digital overdrive, the opportunities for IT vendors has increased tremendously Ankush Kumar ankush.kumar @expressindia.com

T

The government’s eMarketplace initiative is expected to bring greater transparency & efficiency in public procurement in the near future Abhishek Sarda GM Marketing – Global Document Outsourcing, Xerox India

With adoption of IoT and high Internet penetration in the country, there will be an increase in data volumes leading to the growth of the data center industry Amod Ranade General Manager – Data Center Business Development, Schneider Electric

he push by the Indian government to transform the country into a digital economy has created a massive opportunity for global technology companies.

In addition, the recent demonetization move was a sign of the government’s confidence on technology to enable every citizen towards cashless services and digital transactions. As per the latest report by Gartner, the government in India is forecast to spend $7.8 billion US dollars on IT spending in 2017, an increase of 9.5 percent over 2016.

This clearly indicates that there will be more buying of IT related goods and services which will generate a huge interest among the top tech companies to pitch their innovative solutions for public usage. Moreover, even Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India has mentioned that Digital India will be a $1 trillion business opportunity, combining the requirements of the telecom, IT/ITeS and electronics manufacturing sectors.

All this puts India on the radar of global tech majors as the next biggest destination for investments and growth.

In the past one year, the IT industry has seen some of the biggest technology companies announcing to open their research and development centers, centers for cyber security, etc. in India. “The changes in the Indian

government’s thinking are in sync with the times,” says Sanjeev Gupta, country general manager – Public Sector, Microsoft India. As the government takes most services online, from education, healthcare, public utilities, safety, etc., the clamor for efficient service delivery has been growing as people expect more seamless delivery under the digital paradigm. This has resulted in an increase for IT resources on demand.

Cloud as a catalyst for change Government departments and government leaders are all grappling with which project is more important, and how to get the benefits of that project to citizens quickly.

“For all these pieces to come together in one effective and efficient cycle, the government must embrace the power of the cloud. It can connect various departments in real time, enabling faster decision making which can lead to more efficiency in usage of resources. What’s more, it promotes ease of interaction with citizens and businesses, ultimately delivering better governance to its citizens,” explains Gupta.

As per Gartner, the public cloud services market in India is projected to grow 38 percent in 2017 to total $1.81 billion. The highest growth will continue to be driven by infrastructure as a service (IaaS) which is projected to grow at 49.2 percent in 2017, followed by 33 percent in software as a service (SaaS) and 32.1 percent in platform as a service (PaaS). The increase of SaaS and PaaS are indicators that the migration of application and workloads from on premises data centers to the cloud, as well as the development of cloud ready and cloud native applications, are fueling the growth in the cloud space.

Gupta of Microsoft believes that cloud for governance is the most cost effective way to fast forward India’s current phase of development, improve the government’s productivity and ensure fast and reliable service delivery across the country through

newer and more effective delivery models.

Machine Learning and AI as future growth drivers While cloud computing is expected to provide the backbone for technology for governments, machine learning and artificial intelligence are two areas that are future growth drivers, says Dr Niraj Prakash, director – applications sales consulting, Oracle India.

“These two sectors are going to aid the government to provide frictionless citizen services.”

The artificial intelligence (A.I.) market is estimated to grow from USD 419.7 million in 2014 to USD 5.05 billion by 2020, at a CAGR of 53.65 percent from 2015 to 2020 due to factors such as diversified application areas, improved productivity, and increased customer satisfaction.

The machine learning technology is expected to account for the largest share of the overall AI market during the forecast period. In addition, due to the increase in demand for AI from the media & advertising and finance sectors, the artificial intelligence (A.I.) market is expected to gain traction in the next five years. The machine learning technology market for the retail, healthcare, law, and oil & gas sectors is also expected to witness growth during the forecast period.

Talking about artificial intelligence and how it can help the government in creating self-service platforms for better citizen service, Prakash says, “The government’s goal is to make citizen services more seamless and intuitive, eliminate call centers and cut operational costs. As artificial intelligence and chatbots technologies evolve, the citizens will expect governments to move away from single function mobile applications and create a more intuitive communication approach. Public sector organizations are uniquely positioned to seize the opportunity and deliver on the promise for self-service.

Chatbots take advantage of artificial intelligence and

carry out intelligent and seamless conversations by creating a positive and responsive communication model including integration with Aadhar, wherever necessary.”

Data Storage and its reliability Amod Ranade, general manager – data center business development at Schneider Electric emphasized on the importance of data storage with rising volumes of data that is being generated at every stage. “With adoption of IoT, smartphones and increase in Internet penetration in the country, there will be an

increase in data volumes which will in turn lead to the growth of the data center industry which plays the primary role in data storage. The healthcare sector is also soon catching up as the government works towards centralizing medical data. The education sector is also getting investments and providing the students with cutting edge technology for research. We are seeing a huge demand in the HPC (high performance and computing) segment as well.”

With the government looking at new technologies, the potential remains high.

Says Abhishek Sarda, GM marketing – global document

$7.8 billion

outsourcing, Xerox India, “The Government will continue to embrace new technologies and service models that deliver cost effective IT faster, and smarter, while making their public processes more responsive and efficient. The government is also aiming to reinvent a de-centralized administration through speedy, correct, and truthful IT application in the Indian economy.” Sarda also opines that the government’s eMaketplace initiative is expected to bring greater transparency & efficiency in public procurement in the near future.

India is forecast to spend $7.8 billion US dollars on IT spending in 2017, an increase of 9.5 percent over 2016.

2017-2016

The public cloud services market in India is projected to grow 38 percent in 2017 to total $1.81 billion

$1.81

b i l l i o n

49.2 %

(IaaS)

33 %

(SaaS)

32.1 %

(PaaS)

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is projected to grow at 49.2 percent in 2017, followed by 33 percent in software as a service (SaaS) and 32.1 percent in platform as a service (PaaS)

EXPRESS COMPUTER | JULY, 2017

|13

OPINION Sachin Joshi, Head, Indian Bridge Management System (IBMS)

A digital database of all bridges in the country can be a game changing approach

B

ridges and culverts are important assets of any country’s highway network.

Development of extensive highway network has increased the need to maintain the bridges and culverts in good conditions. The value of these assets runs into billions of dollars.

Having a digital database of all our bridges in this country can be a game-changing approach.

Subject to the consideration of its importance, the government of India has launched Indian Bridge Management System (IBMS). As part of this exercise, all the bridges and culverts are bring given unique numbers – just like the registration numbers for vehicles.

Such a plan can address the needs for identifying, documenting, and managing the distressed bridges.

Government of India constitutes various working groups to review the growth potential and scope of work that can be done in each Five Year Plan.

One such group is the Working Group on Central Road Sector.

They submitted a report in 2011 with their recommendation for the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-2017). In that report, they stated that “…A system of maintaining and updating database on bridge inventory needs to be set up for enabling timely decision making regarding formulating their maintenance strategies. Development of Bridge Management System may be considered to be set up in a time bound manner for this purpose...” They have also outlined the basic reason for the poor maintenance and indicated that maintenance should be removed from the non-plan expenditure and a separate head of account be created in the planned expenditure head different from construction.

This way, maintenance can be taken up as needed without getting delayed due to lack of funds. The report also pointed out that the governments do apply ad-hoc cuts in maintenance amounts due to resource constraints.

Relevance of bridge management Due to the significant role of bridges in transportation networks and in accordance with the limited funding for bridge management, remedial strategies have to be prioritized.

Bridges fulfill the idea of connectivity while culverts are meant for drainage and protection from floods. Any negligence and delayed actions in the maintenance of bridges may lead to their degradation, which in turn leads to large future costs. A comprehensive inventory of bridges and culverts on highway networks can provide the state and local public works departments (PWDs) with information necessary to appropriately prioritize the repair and replacement projects. The ultimate goal of the Bridge Management project is to reduce future roadway closures, hazards, and property damage. The system for prioritizing maintenance work can optimize the cost of repair and/or redesign.

Proper maintenance can also ensure public safety and distress management.

Maintenance and retrofitting work of these assets can be planned by considering the socio-economic importance and traffic growth/intensity.

Such approaches can extend the life span of bridges/culverts, provide a well-structured and well-connected (especially

during natural hazards) highway network to facilitate faster economic growth.

How to assess culverts and bridges Assessment methodology can include systems for field inspection, condition rating, and prioritization of maintenance work. A system of prioritization could be based on the ‘importance ‘and ‘condition’ of bridges/culverts. The ‘importance ‘can be assessed based on the relative likelihood and consequences of failure (i.e., risk factors).The ‘condition’ can be assessed using the material, shape, size and traffic conditions associated with each bridge/culvert and the probability of each bridge/culvert falling within a given condition rating. Besides, the assessment methodology can also consider other parameters such as slope, flow condition, grade, approach angle, depth, extend of sediment deposit, bank erosion and predominant vegetation type. The accuracy of decisions developed by any bridge manager or engineer relies on the accuracy of the condition assessment. To validate the assessment, various parameters such as socio-economic importance can be considered.

Some countries use remote sensing technologies to assess and monitor the condition of bridge infrastructure and improve the efficiency of inspection, repair, and rehabilitation efforts. This investigation will build on the existing work that places sensors directly on the bridge structure to assess the condition (i.e., deterioration and damage). This information will then be analyzed by a computer decision support system to develop unique signatures of bridge condition. Monitoring the changes in these unique signatures as a function of time will provide the engineers with information that can be used to prioritize maintenance and repair works.

The Indian Bridge Management System (IBMS) The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) took an initiative to implement the Indian Bridge Management System (IBMS).

It generates detailed inventory and ratings of all bridges on the annual basis. Such information could help understand the dynamics/rate of deterioration processes and control it as needed. This follows the dual principle (1) the idiom, “a stitch in time saves nine”, and (2) worst damage first repair (WDFR).

IBMS was conceptualized in August 2014 and the responsibility of developing and implementing it was bestowed on the S&R (Bridge) department of MoRTH. India did not have any system for the management of assets such as bridges/culverts.

Therefore, an international tender was floated for the development and implementation of IBMS. How IBMS works?

The IBMS creates an inventory of and applies a scientific logic to manage all the bridges in our country.The development of IBMS poses its own challenges in the (1) inventory development and (2) condition assessment and structural rating. All the bridges in India need to be given a unique identity number, which is the

first step of inventory creation.

Then, their precise location details in form of latitude and longitude need to be collected in an automatic mode using the Ground/Geographical Positioning System (GPS).

Then, the engineering properties of the materials and structural systems of all the bridges/culverts need to be collected. On completion of inventory, the structural component rating can be done using a 0 to 9 scale to define the material/structural conditions of various bridge components (like foundation, pier, deck, etc.). In addition, the scour rating, waterway adequacy, structural rating and socio-economic parameters need to be assessed. Based on the inventory and ratings codes, IBMS

analyses the data and indicates the bridges, which need further investigation (may be using various non-destructive testing (NDT) procedures). The initial inventory and rating codes generates the deterioration process prognosis, which is validated by the NDT procedures.

A detailed remedial plan is then defined for each bridge tested, which is based on the standard specifications for Repair, Rehabilitation and Strengthening of Bridges.

Ranking of bridges for repair is driven by a logical protocol which is based on the cost of repair, the importance of the bridge in social and economic scenario and then the level of deterioraion defined by the ratings as defined by rating used in conjunction with the traffic on the bridge and age of bridge. The ranking module of IBMS defines a list of bridge that need to be repaired/retrofitted as per priority and can be taken up based on total funds available with the ministry.

The MoRTH is also working under the skill development program to initiate a Certified Bridge Inspectors course and Certified Bridge Retrofit Expert course to ensure that the required manpower is available to sustain the system through its usage.

Benefits Each stake holder has short term and long term benefits as

BUSINESS AVENUES

follows: The government benefits by the creation of a database of all bridge assets in immediate future (say, 6 months). This is the short term benefit and in the long term it optimizes the utility of funds available for the maintenance and rehabilitation of bridges. The overall efficiency in terms of the performance and longevity of the bridges/culverts in our country is anticipated to improve and thereby reduce the long term economic burden.

The public can be assured that with time the general condition of bridge is being monitored and no major sudden catastrophe could affect the connectivity of their movement.

They will assure uninterrupted connectivity, especially as the importance of the bridge increases due to increase in population and traffic on the bridge. Its importance will influence the level of upkeep and promptness of maintenance action.

The bridge fraternity shall benefit from long term studies that generate data, which help to decide on possible systems of design, construction that can be modified based on the data on the behavior of bridges in various environmental conditions. Continuous monitoring brings in the awareness of the concept of application of science and technology to ensure economic methods of mainte-

nance of assets.

All infrastructure assets in India need a proper management system to ensure that they are maintained in proper and scientific manner. Under the leadership of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, the MoRTH has taken the first step in the correct direction in the case of bridges/culverts.

Similar systems can be developed and implemented for other national assets such as ports, dams, heritage monuments, etc. In the recommendation for the 12th Five year plan on Central Road Sector, the committee had stated “…Roads are valuable assets and justify preservation and regular maintenance. A modest erosion of 5% due to deficiency in the maintenance, the loss is much more than the amount required for its preservation.

There is no economic sense in losing our assets…”Hence,

integrating Bridge Asset Management Plan even by every local body seems essential. Also, the design standards and repairing works of these major assets should be in harmony with the requirement of roads serving the access function. Inclusion of remote sensing and non-destructive testing technologies in the bridge assessment and rating processes may help to optimize the costs in tune with traffic growth. For this, it is necessary to ensure proper budgeting for subsequent up-gradation and give higher priority than new construction. Improved and regular assessments allow for better allocation of the limited financial and personnel resources towards repair and maintenance efforts in order to extend the service life and enhance the safety of bridge assets and its users at minimal costs.

EXPRESS COMPUTER | JULY, 2017

14 | OPINION Anand Kumar MD, National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL)

Sanjay Jaju Director, NHIDCL

Techtonic push for the roads and highways in India

I

n recent past, a renewed focus has been given to development and upgrade of national highways in the country. Projects like Bharat Mala, connecting places of religious significance, port connectivity, making the North East more accessible, building thousands of new railway bridges and underpasses, enhancing road safety, efficiency and comfort, building people friendly initiatives, have all started on ground simultaneously.

National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL), the latest entrant in the infrastructure sector has also been created to upgrade national highways and strategic roads in parts of the country sharing international boundaries with neighboring countries.

To implement such projects, it’s imperative that technology is used to facilitate projects during preparation and also through its various stages of implementation including monitoring. In order to achieve this goal, NHIDCL has introduced 3 major IT initiatives. These initiatives are proving to be game changers for the sector.

INFRACON Ministry of Road Transport & Highways procures and uses the services of consultancy firms and other domain experts in various fields related to highways and engineering called 'key personnel'. The key personnel are deployed both for project preparation and supervision. Ultimate objective is to have an unerring selection of consultants leading to better quality project reports and timely execution of project works, thereby saving large amounts of public money and time.

INFRACON has been

created as a web based national portal for consultants and consultancy firms working for the infrastructure sector. INFRACON allows consultancy firms and key personnel to upload their credentials online and in the manner and form which enables automatic evaluation of their technical proposals.

The portal has the facility to host firms and personnel CVs and credentials online with linkage to Aadhaar and Digilocker for data validation and purity.

The portal also facilitates the public agencies to receive

IT systems would ensure transparency and provide information on the public domain in a dynamic manner

technical proposals through INFRACON. This has been done to significantly reduce the paper work being done during bid submission and also to bring in transparency and accountability in the process.

So far, more than 5500 consultants and over 300 consultancy firms have registered. More than 900 projects have also been bidded out through this portal and these numbers are growing continuously. In fact, NHIDCL has completed evaluation of many projects through the portal itself and it expects that over a period of time this would become a comprehensive national database for individuals consultants and firms.

This IT initiative in future has the potential to become a

common platform for both the service providers and clients.

It would also open a window for professionals engaged in the infrastructure domain to showcase their experiences.

The project caters to a wide array of organisations and individuals, namely state agencies bidding out consultancy projects, and consultancy firms and individual consultants applying for such projects. At the same time, concessionaires and contractors may also make use of the portal to identify suitable personnel for their projects.

INAM-Pro During the construction of highways, the lack of a common marketplace led to the formation of a segregated network of buyers, while at the other end of the spectrum, the suppliers still remained aggregated. This disparity gave way to cartelisation and inflationary pressures on pricing of cement and steel.

INAM-Pro provides a common platform wherein buyers are aggregated, and volatility in prices is controlled and maintained within an upper ceiling price.

INAM-Pro has been developed as a platform for infrastructure and materials providers. With this platform, the aim is to free the infrastructure sector from external impediments like materials shortages, cost escalations due to material prices some things that have historically plagued the field of infrastructure development.

This portal has been envisaged to match the supply and demand in the infrastructure materials industry, by providing a platform for companies to float their demands before it occurs, and for suppliers to adjust production and prices

accordingly. It acts as a common marketplace for infrastructure material providers viz. cement companies, infrastructure providers, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and other stakeholders.

It facilitates contractors or cement buyers engaged in executing the central, state and local bodies funded infrastructure including roads and highways, bridge construction projects to place cement orders online with the registered cement companies that have decided to offer cement at competitive rates in the vicinity of project execution locations. As the cement plants and demand locations are geotagged, buyers are able to choose brands offering highest

value proposition from the cost or logistics viewpoint.

This is a completely voluntary marketplace and offers its own value proposition and provides free and user friendly access to all those who are willing to join either as buyer or as seller. In future, other products, technologies and services required in highways construction may also become available on the portal. ePACE With the Government of India envisaging the development of world class roads and highways as a crucial area of focus, the need of the hour is to keep pace with the multiple ongoing initiatives and integrate this multiplicity into an efficient

and accurate system of data recording which brings together all project related information onto a single platform. ePACE (Projects Appraisal and Continuing Enhancements) is an online integrated management information system (MIS) designed to monitor and improve the progress of highways development works, at the click of a button. ePACE provides instantaneous access to static and dynamic information for all these projects for ensuring their effective and real time tracking.

The information captured spans the entire lifecycle of these projects and acts as a decision support system for the

top management by helping them identify the projects that are lagging behind and also helps them mitigate the factors responsible for such lags. In essence, ePACE captures information from multiple levels and stages of project execution, and then collates it on a desirable single platform, ready for use by the top management for effective project monitoring.

All these three projects are scalable, customisable and easily accessible to the large spectrum of stakeholders.

These systems would ensure transparency and provide information on the public domain in a dynamic manner, thus aiding in monitoring and expediting the pace of the projects.

Sudipta Ghosh Partner and Leader - Data and Analytics, PwC India.

Next in eGov: Governance in the age of Artificial Intelligence

T

he global scientific community has come a long way since the development of artificial intelligence (AI) as a concept to its modern-day appeal as a field with nearlimitless potential in turning around the way activities are performed in society. The ultimate frontier for AI systems continues to be achieving a level of sophistication that matches that of the human mind.

In the Indian context, there appears to be a lot of optimism around the potential of AI in enhancing government initiatives such as Make in India, Skill India, and Digital India which have put India on the path of a technological revolution. Since the effectiveness of AI, machine learning, robotics and cognitive automation increases with a rise in the quality and quantity of training data that the systems are exposed to, the conditions are ripe for India to leverage Big Data for intelligent decisions and emerge as a leader in AI. In order to get there, it is imperative to gain an insight into the possible implications of AI systems across different governmental projects and more importantly, to moderate

the same within the purview of a robust policy framework that serves the dual objectives of technological advancement on the one hand and ethical compliance and social inclusion on the other.

Where can AI have an impact?

AI techniques can be applied in large-scale public initiatives ranging from crop insurance schemes to tax fraud detection to enhancing our security strategy. For example, AI algorithms can detect fraud

AI techniques can be applied in large-scale public initiatives ranging from crop insurance schemes to tax fraud detection, etc..

in filing of corporate tax returns by employing pattern recognition over a large volume of pre-existing filed tax returns and rule based analysis of tax regulatory codes, which can help to avoid tax evasion.

Similarly, LPG distributors can

leverage real-time data stream and integration to implement a dynamic pricing model, which ensures that the LPG subsidy is effectively transferred to consumers who actually need it by expressly identifying customer accounts and pricing accordingly.

Deep learning, an integral part of AI could be used with great impact in the Clean India initiative. It is a process used for pattern recognition, image analysis and natural language processing (NLP) by modelling high-level abstractions in data, which can then be compared with various other recognised contents in a conceptual way rather than using just a rulebased method. For example, citizens can use mobile applications to photograph unhygienic locations and share them with relevant municipal authorities with geo-tags and timestamps that facilitate remedial action. Another potential use could be to use pictures and text uploaded by the public of polluting sources that affect the quality of water in river Ganga, which can further be processed through deep learning neural networks in conjunction with data available from the Bhuvan Ganga application to enable decision makers to prioritise

distribution and consumption mechanisms. AI solutions can also help provide site-specific and timely data about crops to enable application of appropriate inputs such as fertilisers and chemicals.

interventions.

Coming to the Skill India initiative, India has entered into partnerships with public and private sector organisations both in India and abroad, some of which start at the school level to facilitate knowledge exchange. This could prove to be a potentially ripe area to apply adaptive learning solutions to tailor

education to different levels of receptiveness and allow students to learn at their pace.

In the area of Smart City development, AI can and will play an integral part in analysing huge volumes of data, which would be generated by smart city components and also by users. AI can be the bedrock on which patterns and similarities between various

data sets can be detected and acted on. AI models will learn each day from the streaming/online data in the cognitive systems and will keep on increasing the accuracy level of predictions and insights.

AI can also be used in egovernance in traditional industries like agriculture by using smarter production, processing, storage and

Where do we go from here?

In an ever-evolving and learning AI environment, creating a landscape for institutionalising AI innovation is the need of the hour. This requires close collaboration between academia, the private sector and public sector in order to understand problems holistically and solve them. To encourage a level of innovation matching that of global technology giants in AI research efforts in India, initiatives to hold events and build user communities in the field of AI will go a long way.

In addition, continuous dialogue between the three pillars - academia, public sector and private sector will preclude the rare possibility of an innovation being at odds with human interests.

Collaboration between the three pillars could also help to get a comprehensive view of problems and find intelligent and efficient ways to achieve societal objectives.

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