Public-Private Partnership for E-Governance Implementation in India

Asoke K. Laha,
President & MD,
Interra IT

India is witnessing an unprecedented emergence of Information and Communication Technology which has been responsible for the growth of GDP in our country. Globally, today we are an IT superpower, yet the fruits of our IT revolution and endeavour have not reached the masses who need it the most and even are not aware of it. Application of ICT in the form of e-Governance can empower the poorest of poor citizens of our country. 

Applying ICT in the form of e-Governance can result in better management of resources available with the Government with substantial cost savings along with optimum service delivery to its citizens. 

But India being a huge country, there are lots of challenges and hurdles that we have to overcome in the implementation of e-Governance applications. Apart from ICT, Government has to concentrate on other sectors and pressing needs and in most cases ICT implementation is not the topmost agenda of the Government decision-makers at the state or at the central level. The lack of funds for an ICT initiative is also a bottleneck for the Government. The rich states like Karnataka, Maharashtra or Andhra Pradesh can easily implement any ICT initiative compared to the smaller North-Eastern states with their small budgets. 

The exceptions are the centrally-funded Mission Mode Projects which are implemented in all the states – rich or poor – with uniformity. Many State Governments are also getting funds from the World Bank or the Asian Development Bank for the implementation of many e-Governance projects. But all these collective initiatives are not sufficient enough to spread the awareness of e-Governance in every nook and corner of the country and hence the private players have to come into the picture. 

Implementation of e-Governance projects not only provides direct revenue to the participating companies but also indirectly helps in increasing the need for hardware and software in various associated applications and involvement of other private players also. This will offer a tremendous opportunity rather than the one-time implementation fee and support and maintenance charges. Another big factor is that the Government can make speedy decisions because of the availability of funds from a private player who takes the responsibility of building and operating it for some period before handing it over to the Government. 

The risk factor thus from the Government side comes down and the Government is delivered with a stable, time-proven and secured solution. The service provider is benefited with greater turnaround time for the decision-making process and better financial rewards, apart from flexibility in generating revenues through new avenues. 

E-Governance projects can be executed on a BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer), BOOT (Build-Own- Operate-Transfer) and DBFO (Design-Build-Finance-Operate) basis and all these will definitely release the burden on public budget for infrastructure development.  

Since e-Governance projects involve participation by the public and they involve day-to-day dispensing of necessary Government services to the masses, it is an attractive source of revenue for private players who participate in PPP (Public-Private Partnership) modes. The PPP projects are larger ones with long periods of operation and maintenance. Hence, the turnover from these ICT activities is maximum with regard to a non-PPP-based ICT initiative. 

Though larger companies are today working on the public private partnership space, the presence of the medium and smaller organizations are minimal in this space. Government should look forward to better efficiency by inviting companies of all sizes to contribute to the development of ICT initiatives by their unique development models and innovation practices. 

Companies should propose a pilot implementation plan for addressing a public need and come out with a workable solution and if it is in the national interest the Government should definitely put their nod in that. This way, a lot of E-Governance applications can be implemented simultaneously, thus disseminating the light of efficient e-Governance systems across the country. 

As more and more people come under the ambit of e-Governance, more and more avenues of revenue generation can be invented by the companies as new oppurtunities will be galore.