India’s second largest Information Technology services firm Infosys has managed to bag the Rs 700-750 crore financial services systems integrator contract from the Department of Posts (DoP). This is the second contract from the department for Infosys.
Infosys, said sources, has emerged as the lowest bidder for the contract. Other vendors in the fray includes India’s largest software exporter Tata Consultancy Services and global services giant HP.
A postal department official confirmed the development. Infosys top management declined to comment because the company is observing a silent period before announcing its second quarter results on October 12.
The contract is part of the government’s postal department modernisation project. The financial services contract is among the eight that the department is outsourcing.
Earlier this year, Infosys had also managed to bag the 'rural information and communications technology (ICT) system integrator (SI)’ contract, worth Rs 100 crore.
As part of the new project, Infosys would help with postal banking and insurance solutions, enabling the department to perform ‘anytime, anywhere’ banking. In August 2010, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had approved the India Post Modernisation, IT modernisation project with a total outlay of Rs 1,877.2 crore. India Posts' IT modernisation initiative is expected to create opportunities of Rs 5,000-crore for IT services and hardware companies.
Besides the financial services SI, other contracts include data centre facility, network integrator, mail operations hardware and change management. The bidding process for DoP's 'core system integrator' contract is on. This is touted as the largest of the eight contracts. The financial outlay of the project could not be confirmed.
Ever since Infosys established a separate business to focus on the domestic IT outsourcing market, it has been aggressively participating and winning government contracts. With the change in guard at Infosys, there were indications that the company will now increase its focus on emerging markets, including India.
K V Kamath, who took over as the chairman of Infosys this year, had hinted about a ‘Blue Ocean’ strategy. The strategy will make the company focus on newer verticals like healthcare and government, and to expand operations to emerging markets like India and China.
