Wipro bags Rs 1182-cr ESIC project

Wipro Infotech has bagged a Rs1,182-crore outsourcing contract from the state-run Employees State Insurance Corp (ESIC), the company said Friday. Wipro outbidits larger Indian rivals, Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys Technologies, in a global tender floated in November 2008.

Spread over six and a half years, the contract is provided on a build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) basis. It involves implementing 'Project Panchdeep', aimed at improving services by providing online facilities to employers and insured people for registration, payment of premium and disbursement of cash benefits.

The five parts of the project are termed as Pehchan, Milap, Pashan, Dhanwantri and Pragati. It includes identification of 10 million subscribers and their family members covered under ESIC and connecting all its locations - the head office, 51 regional, sub-regional and divisional offices, 620 branches, 144 hospitals, 1,388 dispensaries and state directorates.

The various modules will also provide human resources as well as finance and general administration programmes for increasing the corporation's efficiency.

"It is an honour to be awarded one of the prestigious e-governance projects in the country. As a strategic relationship for us, we are committed to making it a showcase in the e-governance domain," Wipro Infotech vice-president Anand Sankaran, said.

"The ministry has been supportive and keen on ensuring a quick roll-out of the project as it directly benefits the citizens," he added.