India Post hands $126m financial IT contract to Infosys

India Post has selected technology and consulting firm Infosys for a major contract to upgrade financial service infrastructure in 150,000 post offices across the country. The company based in Bangalore said the deal was part of India Post’s 2012 modernisation programme that aims to bring transparency, flexibility and scalability to the Post’s operations.

The contract is worth around INR 7bn ($127m USD), Infosys said.

Infosys promised to “revolutionise” the financial services system in the world’s biggest post office network, improving the lives of around 200m of its banking customers across urban and rural India.

It will implement and manage hardware and software including its Finacle Core Banking and McCarnish Insurance products.

The project will see the establishment of an electronic Content Management System to manage millions of documents generated through India Post’s financial operations.

And, it will see Infosys installing around 1,000 cash dispensing ATMs.

Infosys said the deal included a multi-year managed services and application support element, along with training for more than 35,000 India Post employees on using the new platform and services.

“Transformational”

AS Prasad, the deputy director-general for financial services at India Post, said he was confident that the “extensive” experience of Infosys with transformational programmes in this area would be “instrumental” in rolling out the programme.

“This transformational programme is expected to enhance India Post’s services, bringing us on par with the best in the banking industry,” he said. “It will help us expand the reach and effectiveness of our operations through technology enablement of India Post employees.”

Infosys, which operates in more than 30 different countries, said it would apply knowledge gained from the banking and financial sector to transform India Post’s systems and emplower its end customers.

“This project offers us rich scope to innovate and optimise the largest financial and insurance distribution channel in the country,” said CN Raghupathi, vice president and head of India business at Infosys.

“We look forward to deploying our strong capabilities across industries and technologies, in a role that has the potential to significantly impact millions of citizens in the country.”