8 Indian cos invited to bid for Bhutan's paper lottery

Eight Indian companies are vying to become the marketing agent for Bhutan's paper lottery in India. Bhutan's finance ministry has already conducted a technical evaluation of the bidders to check their credibility ahead of the bidding tomorrow, finance secretary Yangki T Wangchuk said.

Sanjay Jayantilal & Company, running the paper lottery business for the past 25 years, is among the eight bidders.

"I am here to make my best offer," said Jitendra Chheda, one of the partners in the company.

Though the company generated about Nu 2,100 million for the government and has maintained a clean record, a government source said the bidding has been arranged to "ensure more transparency in choosing an agent, because people were starting to doubt why the same agent was running the lottery for years".

The market for Bhutan paper lottery, one of the biggest contributors to the Himalayan kingdom's revenue, is in the four Indian states of Kerala, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Punjab.

Sanjay Jayantilal & Company was made the marketing agent in India in 1982.

"The agreement between the government and the company was renewed each time it expired because the company never failed to submit the revenue," the source was quoted as saying by the state-run newspaper 'Kuensel'.

The present agreement expires on December 31.