1110 - Report of the Technology Advisory Group for Unique Projects

Report of the Technology Advisory
Group for Unique Projects
Ministry of Finance
New Delhi, India
January 31, 2011

To,
Shri Pranab Mukherjee,
Honourable Minister of Finance,
Government of India.

Sir,

We submit herewith the Report of the Technology Advisory Group on Unique Projects (TAGUP).

Shri Nandan Nilekani                      Shri C.B. Bhave
Chairman, UIDAI Chairman,        SEBI

Shri R. Chandrasekhar                  Shri Dhirendra Swarup
Secretary, DoT                                Former Chairman, PFRDA

Shri S.S. Khan                                 Shri P.R.V. Ramanan
Former Member, CBDT               Former Member, CBEC

Dr. Nachiket Mor
Chairman, IFMR Trust

REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS i

MEMBERS
Members
Chairman
Nandan Nilekani Chairman, UIDAI
Members
C. B. Bhave Chairman, SEBI
R. Chandrasekhar Secretary, Department of Telecommunications
Dhirendra Swarup Former Chairman, PFRDA
S. S. Khan Former Member, CBDT
P. R. V. Ramanan Former Member, CBEC
Dr. Nachiket Mor Chairman, IFMR Trust
Secretariat
Amal Pushp Additional Director of Income Tax, CBDT, DoR
Krishnan Dharmarajan Director, National e-Governance Division, DIT
Parama Sen Director, DoE
Ravi Agarwal Director of Income Tax (Systems), CBDT, DoR
Ritesh Kumar Singh Private Secretary to Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas
Ritvik Pandey Deputy Secretary, DEA
Satyajit Suri General Manager (Program Development and Management), NISG
Somya Dave Additional Director General, CBEC, DoR
Srikar M.S. Private Secretary to Chairman, UIDAI
Dr. Viral B. Shah Manager, UIDAI

ii REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS

Preface
The Finance Minister in his Budget Speech of 2010–2011 had announced the setting up of a Technology Advisory Group for Unique Projects. Para 104 of the Budget speech
reads as follows:

Technology Advisory Group for Unique Projects 104. An effective tax administration and financial governance system callsfor creation of IT projects which are reliable, secure and efficient. IT projects like Tax Information Network, New Pension Scheme, National Treasury Management Agency, Expenditure Information Network, Goods and Service Tax, are in different stages of roll out. To look into various technological and systemic issues, I propose to set up a Technology Advisory Group for Unique Projects under the Chairmanship of Shri Nandan Nilekani.


In recent years, Government functioning in general and specific projects in particular have come to involve complex Information Technology (IT) system development. Five
projects stand out: 

1. Goods and Services Tax (GST)
2. Tax Information Network (TIN)
3. Expenditure Information Network (EIN)
4. National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA)
5. New Pension System (NPS)

In addition, there are numerous other settings in Government where IT systems are mission critical.
These five projects alone have immense transformative power and can change India’s growth trajectory. This justifies efforts in increasing the probability of project
success. The challenge is to find ways to rapidly roll out these complex systems, to achieve project objectives and sustain high levels of reliable performance. Issues of project management for complex IT-intensive systems in Government need to be addressed on a priority. This report is an effort in this direction.

The Group held consultations with various experts within Government and outside. The consultations were held with Department of Economic Affairs, Department of
Expenditure, Department of Revenue, PFRDA, CGA, CBDT, CBEC, NIC, CRIS, NSDL, NPCI, NASSCOM, and representatives of various State Governments.

Although the primary audience of this report are decision makers and the management teams of projects such as GST, TIN, EIN, NTMA, and NPS, the Group believes that
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS iii

PREFACE
the framework put forth in this report is more generally applicable to the complex IT-intensive systems which are increasingly coming to prominence in the craft of Indian
public administration.The Group also recognises that various existing IT-intensive projects in Government
are at different stages of implementation and with differing models. The adoption of the key recommendations of the Group to such projects should be done in a way that
ensures minimal disruption to existing functioning.

iv REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS

List of abbreviations
BPR Business Process Re-engineering
CBDT Central Board of Direct Taxes
CBEC Central Board of Excise and Customs
CVC Central Vigilance Commission
DEA Department of Economic Affairs
DIT Department of Information Technology
DoR Department of Revenue
DoE Department of Expenditure
DoT Department of Telecommunications
EIN Expenditure Information Network
GFR General Financial Rules
GOI Government of India
GST Goods and Services Tax
GSTN Goods and Services Tax Network
IT Information Technology
ITD Income Tax Department
KYC Know Your Customer
MoU Memorum of Understanding
MSP Managed Services Provider
NISG National Institute for Smart Government
NPCI National Payments Corporation of India
NPS New Pension System
NSDL National Securities Depository Limited
NSE National Stock Exchange
NTMA National Treasury Management Authority
NIU National Information Utility
PAN Permanent Account Number
PFRDA Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority
RFP Request for Proposal
RTI Right to Information
SEBI Securities and Exchange Board of India
SLA Service Level Agreement
TAGUP Technology Advisory Group for Unique Projects
TIN Tax Information Network
UIDAI Unique Identification Authority of India

REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS v

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Executive summary
In the last two decades, the Government of India (GOI) and many State Governments have initiated several e-Governance projects many of which have brought about
significant changes in the way the concerned Departments and Agencies had conducted their business in the past.
The Finance Ministry in the GOI has been in the forefront of such initiatives and has successfully implemented large, complex projects involving extensive use of IT Systems, such as the TIN for Income Tax applications, ICES for Customs, and ACES for Excise and Service Tax. Similarly, the vision of organized financial trading (stock exchanges, depositories, and clearing corporations) has been implemented successfully using IT systems through the joint efforts of various stakeholders. 

Undoubtedly, all of them have to be built on sound and durable IT systems for better management. Considering the complex nature of these projects, it is necessary to not only get the design and implementation of such systems right, but it is also essential that institutional capacity be built up to support these projects and sustain them on an ongoing basis. The challenge is thus that of finding ways to rapidly roll out
these systems, to achieve and then to sustain high levels of reliable performance on an ongoing basis. 

The Group reviewed these five projects along various dimensions. The challenges faced in implementing ongoing projects like TIN ,ICES and ACES have been a valuable
guide. The most important lesson that needs to be acted upon is that business change’ should drive the design and implementation of these projects. IT is essentially an
enabler and a powerful tool to achieve the expected business change. In this sense, IT is a means to an end.
In the course of these reviews, the Group observed similar patterns and challenges across all projects, and a common framework for evaluation evolved naturally. Thus,
this report starts out by addressing the challenges faced by large complex IT projects in Government, and then applies this framework to the evaluation of the five projects at
hand. Part I discusses the public policy challenges. Technology challenges are discussed in Part II. All projects are then evaluated within this framework in Part III.
Public policy challenges 

Chapter 1 analyzes the first of the public policy challenges, namely, the appropriate
placement of tasks. IT projects in Government, if small, are typically implemented
in-house, and if large, or contracted out to Managed Service Providers (MSP) or
vendors. Taking into account the complex nature of 5 projects in view, and the
vi REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
project management challenges, the adoption of a National Information Utility (NIU)
framework , where the Government focuses on policy formulation and enforcement,
and the NIU on implementation of IT systems to enable the proposed business changes
is recommended. Besides, the recommendations cover the aspects of ownership and
governance structure of the NIU, strategic control by the Government, and allocation of
responsibilities between the Government and the NIU.
Considering the importance of investment in peopleware in the successful imple-
mentation of complex projects and the need to nurture talent to sustain continuous
improvement, Chapter 2 discusses the second challenge, namely, human resource issues.
The recommendations herein cover aspects such as setting up of a dedicated Mission
Team headed by Mission Leader, a five year tenure for the team to ensure continuity,
revising Deputation schemes within Government, induction of talent from outside
the Government,wider use of contractual appointments, capacity building through
induction and advanced training programs,grant of incentives to retain in-service
officers on projects, creation of conducive work environment and improving methods of
performance appraisal methods, especially for personnel appointed to key projects.
Similarly, the NIU must also have a dedicated management team that mirrors the team
within Government.
Chapter 3 discusses the issues that are relevant for giving shape to the contractual
relationship between the Government and the NIU in a vendor-customer mode. In line
with the recommendations for the adoption of NIU framework, wherein NIUs will work
in the spirit of partnership with the Government, detailed recommendations have
been made on the aspects to be touched in the agreement with NIU, such as scope of
work,activities to undertaken by the NIU, financial arrangement, obligations of the NIU
and the Government, SLAs, and business continuity plan upon exit.
The challenges faced by projects from startup to going concern are addressed in
Chapter 4. The needs of a project in the startup phase are quite different from its
needs in steady State. These may vary from mundane issues such as office space, to
complex issues such as legal frameworks and bringing all stakeholders on board. The
recommendations focus therefore on issues such as, incubation process before the NIU
comes into being, need to set up dedicated teams within the Government as well as
the NIU, need for consultations with stakeholders, preparation of a Mission Strategy
Document, rapid roll out based on the experience of pilots and the relationship during
the start-up phase.
Chapter 5 discusses specific challenges faced by projects that span multiple levels of
Government. The Group is of the view that the seemingly opposite characteristics of
federal, decentralized governance and the need for a unified approach through a single
software application with common functionality can be resolved with the right solution
architecture evolved through a process of consensus. Incentive compatible solutions for
all levels of Government are necessary to bring about a coalition for change and ensure
full participation and success for such projects.
Technology challenges
Chapter 6 points out some key design considerations for the solution architecture.
The solution architecture should be designed to be flexible, reusable, extensible by
stakeholders, and free of vendor lock-in. Given that many Government projects touch
end-users such as citizens and firms, the Government should also play an active role in
promoting banking and accessibility for all. This can form the basis of a platform for
delivery of services.
Chapter 7 addresses openness in implementation of Government IT projects. It
describes the relevance of open standards, open data, and open source. The Government
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS vii
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
should not only be a consumer, but also strive to produce and facilitate open standards,
open data, and open source. It also suggests the creation of an open source foundation
for open sourcing software from Government projects.
Chapter 8 discusses security for systems of strategic importance. Today, attacks on
IT systems are getting increasingly sophisticated. Systems such as those that are the
focus of this report are likely to be targeted. Compromise may also happen from within
the organization. Security must be taken seriously, and should be one of the topmost
concerns of the management team.
Chapter 9 describes mechanisms of accountability and transparency that should
be built into the design of IT systems in Government. Transparency cannot be an
afterthought. It is essential to define what data will be released early on, so that the IT
system can be architected accordingly.
Chapter 10 describes safeguards in technology and processes that should be
built into the design of IT systems to protect the privacy of individuals. Privacy, like
transparency cannot be an afterthought. Privacy and transparency are also not at odds
with each other, and a well-planned system can easily achieve both.
Recommendations on Ministry of Finance projects
Chapter 11 discusses the strategy and implementation of the GST project. The
recommendations, take note of the impending implementation of GST and cover the
setting up of GST Network as an NIU, incubation of the project in NSDL, the need to set
up a dedicated Mission Team on a priority basis, the placement of tasks in the NIU, the
setting up of a continuing consultation process among the stakeholders, the broad
features of the solution architecture of the GSTN, and the way forward from the pilot
stage to steady state.
Chapter 12 discusses the working of the TIN project and the IT systems within the
Income Tax Department for processing the information flowing from the TIN. The
Group notes that with the impending operationalisation of the Direct Taxes Code, major
changes in the application solutions are called for. The way forward would be to set up
an NIU to design, develop and manage its IT related infrastructure on long-term basis
and also to replace the existing application of diverse implementation methodologies.
The recommendations to achieve project objectives have also been set out.
Chapter 13 discusses the Expenditure Information Network. The existing system
of expenditure has some limitations. Today, measurement of plan implementation
is on the basis of outlay rather than outcome. Government follows hierarchical and
multiple patterns for allocation and release of funds to the implementing agencies
and beneficiaries. It is difficult to track the flow of funds to actual beneficiaries,
and equally difficult to evaluate the performance of agencies based on spending
and project implementation. The Group recommends that a Mission Team be set up
within Government along with an NIU for implementing the EIN. A high level solution
architecture for the EIN is also described in this chapter.
Chapter 14 discusses the way forward for NTMA. It is seen that the Internal Working
group on Debt Management (WG) has provided detailed steps for incubating the project,
setting up of IT systems, the need for creation of databases on debts and contingent
liabilities and change management for transferring the functions from RBI to NTMA.
The Group commends the approach suggested by the WG, and recommends that an NIU
approach be adopted for the implementation of IT systems for NTMA.
Chapter 15 discusses the status of IT systems set up to meet the requirements of the
New Pension System. The suggested way forward is to work towards convergence of all
pension and provident fund streams, rationalization of tax treatment of NPS to provide
viii REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
more even treatment with other retirement products and providers and creation of
awareness among the subscribers. Recommendations for implementation have also
been indicated.
The report concludes with a summary of recommendations in Part IV.
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 1
CONTENTS
Contents
Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
I Public policy challenges 7
1 The appropriate placement of tasks 9
1.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.2 National Information Utilities (NIU) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.3 Institutional framework and strategic control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.3.1 Independent management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.3.2 Strategic control within Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.3.3 A flexible institutional framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.4 Ownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.4.1 Desirable features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.5 Allocation of tasks and responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2 Human resource policies 16
2.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.2 Key recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.2.1 Leadership and active ownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3 Recommendations for the Government team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3.1 A dedicated Mission Leader in Government . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3.2 A dedicated Mission Execution Team in Government . . . . . . 17
2.3.3 Recruitment and tenure of the Mission Execution Team . . . . . 18
2.4 Staffing of the NIU team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.5 Database of IT Projects and Centres of Expertise . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.6 Capacity Building and retention of in-house staff . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.7 Conducive work environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.8 Performance Appraisal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
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CONTENTS
3 Contracting 21
3.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.2 Contracting with National Information Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.3 Aspects to be covered in the agreement with NIU . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.3.1 Scope of work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.3.2 Activities to be undertaken by NIU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.3.3 Obligations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.3.4 Financial arrangement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.3.5 Service Level Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.3.6 Business continuity plan upon exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4 From startup to going concern 25
4.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4.2 Institutional framework for the project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4.3 Incubation of a new National Information Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4.4 Mission Strategy Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4.5 The right team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.6 Consultations with stakeholders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.7 Legal framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.8 Incremental rollout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.9 Government-NIU relationship during incubation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
5 Multiple levels of Government 29
5.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
5.2 Decentralized governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
5.3 Need for a single application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
5.4 Solution design for multiple levels of Government . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
5.5 NIU approach to align incentives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
5.6 Building a coalition for change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
II Technology challenges 33
6 Solution architecture 35
6.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
6.2 Essential elements of a solution architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
6.2.1 Map out a long term IT strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
6.2.2 Structured change management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
6.2.3 Reflection of policy changes in IT systems . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
6.2.4 Data quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
6.2.5 Vendor neutral solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
6.2.6 Interoperability and multiple providers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
6.2.7 A platform strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
6.3 Essential public goods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
6.3.1 Connectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
6.3.2 Banking system interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 3
CONTENTS
7 Openness 40
7.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
7.2 Open standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
7.3 Open data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
7.4 Open source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
7.4.1 An Open Source Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
8 Information security 43
8.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
8.2 Institution-wide support for information security . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
8.2.1 Certification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
8.2.2 Audits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
8.3 Solution architecture and information security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
8.4 Threat to information security from insiders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
8.5 Legal framework governing information security . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
8.6 National level considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
9 Accountability, transparency, and self-corrective forces 48
9.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
9.2 What to share . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
9.3 Solution architecture and transparency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
9.4 Self-corrective forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
9.5 Contact centre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
9.6 Crowd-sourcing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
9.7 International experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
10 Protection of the individual 52
10.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
10.2 Solution architecture and privacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
10.2.1 Personal identifiable information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
10.2.2 Anonymization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
10.2.3 Data retention and usage policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
10.3 Balancing the right to privacy with public interest . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
III Recommendations for Ministry of Finance projects 54
11 Goods and Services Tax 56
11.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
11.2 Public policy challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
11.2.1 Placement of tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
11.2.2 Incubation of the project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
11.2.3 Human resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
11.2.4 Agreement with NSDL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
11.2.5 Multiple levels of Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
11.3 Technology challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
11.3.1 Solution architecture for GSTN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
11.4 The way forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
CONTENTS
12 Tax Information Network 61
12.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
12.2 Public policy challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
12.2.1 Placement of tasks: NSDL as the MSP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
12.2.2 Human Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
12.2.3 Contracting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
12.2.4 Incubation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
12.3 Technology challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
12.3.1 Solution architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
12.3.2 Openness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
12.3.3 Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
12.3.4 Transparency and Privacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
12.4 The way forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
12.4.1 TIN only a component in IT infrastructure of Income Tax Department 64
12.4.2 Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
13 Expenditure Information Network 67
13.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
13.1.1 Challenges with expenditure tracking today . . . . . . . . . . . 67
13.1.2 Setting up an Expenditure Information Network . . . . . . . . . 68
13.2 Public policy challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
13.3 Technology challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
13.4 The way forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
14 National Treasury Management Agency 71
14.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
14.2 Public policy challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
14.3 Technology challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
14.4 The way forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
15 New Pension System 73
15.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
15.2 Public policy challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
15.2.1 Placement of tasks: NSDL as the MSP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
15.2.2 Human resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
15.2.3 Contracting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
15.2.4 Incubation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
15.2.5 Multiple levels of Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
15.3 Technology challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
15.3.1 Solution architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
15.4 The way forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 5
CONTENTS
IV Summary of recommendations 78
16 Recommendations for public policy challenges 80
16.1 The appropriate placement of tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
16.2 Human resource policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
16.3 Contracting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
16.4 From startup to going concern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
16.5 Multiple levels of Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
17 Recommendations for technology challenges 86
17.1 Solution architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
17.2 Openness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
17.3 Information security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
17.4 Accountability, transparency, and self-corrective forces . . . . . . . . . 88
17.5 Protection of the individual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
18 Recommendations for Ministry of Finance projects 90
18.1 Goods and Services Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
18.2 Tax Information Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
18.3 Expenditure Information Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
18.4 National Treasury Management Agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
18.5 New Pension System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
6 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
Part I
Public policy challenges
7
1
The appropriate placement of tasks
1.1. Background
Over the years, several projects, both large and small, have been implemented in the
Government sector in India with varying degrees of success. Some of these projects are
yet to meet the expectations of the ultimate users as well as the departments that
conceived these projects. While reasons for the same are many, one that has been a
recurring theme in all the projects has been the inability of the concerned departments
to implement and manage them efficiently and effectively in a sustained manner.
Typically, IT projects supporting Government functions are developed within
Government for small projects, or outsourced to a Managed Services Provider (MSP)
or one or more vendors for larger projects. In the MSP/vendor model, the Govern-
ment Department puts a project team in place, which carefully studies the business
requirements and writes a Request for Proposal (RFP). An MSP/vendor is then selected
through a competitive bidding process. In the case of highly specialised projects,
Government has also followed the route of selection of service providers on nomination
basis after rigorous evaluation of alternatives and negotiation of price by an expert
group consisting of resources from within and outside.
Invariably, managing such projects has been a great challenge. Often, the imple-
mentation team has had to face serious problems due to lack of financial independence,
inability to get the right personnel and retain them, technological obsolescence, lack of
speed and productivity in implementation, lack of ownership on the part of the user
community within the department, leading to cost and time overruns and failure to
fulfill the requirements.
The Group is of the view that for complex projects that depend on mission-critical
IT systems, like the GST project, there is a clear need to move away from the above
mentioned implementation models. A robust and flexible institutional framework,
combined with a strong dedicated team is necessary to successfully implement such
projects in Government. Alongside, appropriate placement of tasks and allocation of
responsibilities as between the Government and the supporting institutions are essential
to achieve the goals and objectives of the projects.
The Group recommends that a class of institutions called National Information
Utilities (NIU) may be put in place to handle all aspects of IT systems for such complex
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 9
THEAPPROPRIATEPLACEMENTOFTASKS
Figure1.1: Roleof NIU
MSP or
Vendors Govt
NIU Vendors Govt
RFP
Agreement Contract
projects. TheseinstitutionswouldworkinthespiritofpartnershipwithGovernment,
helpingtoovercomesomeofthechallengesofapureMSP/vendormodel. Theywould
participateinhigh-leveldesign, specificationofrequirements, proof-of-conceptstudies,
whilestrategiccontrolisretainedwithinGovernment. Foractualimplementation, the
NIUthencontractswithvendorsfromthemarketforspecialisedserviceswhilebeing
completelyresponsibletotheGovernmentforcommitteddeliverablesandservicelevels.
TheproposedstructureisdepictedinFigure1.1. ItisbelievedthattheNIUmodel
wouldsubstantiallyovercometheproblemsfacedbytheGovernmentinimplementing
theprojectswithin-houseskillsorthroughtheMSP/vendormodel.
ProjectsthatcanbenefitfromanNIUstructuremayhaveoneormoreofthe
followingcharacteristics:
1. Projectsthat spanmultiplelevelsof Governments—Central, State, Local
(Chapter5)
2. ProjectsthatspanmultipleGovernmentdepartments
3. Projectsthatspanmultiplestakeholders,wherethenetworkexternalitiesofa
thrivingecosystemaroundtheGovernmentdevelopedplatformisessentialfor
success
4. Projectsthatrequiresignificantbusinessprocessre-engineeringtoleverage
technology
5. ProjectsthataidasovereignfunctionofGovernment
1.2. NationalInformationUtilities(NIU)
AsconceivedbytheGroup,NIUswouldbeprivatecompanieswithapublicpurpose:
profit-making, but not profit maximizing. Thisconcept isnot anewone; some
comparableexamplesareNSDL(Box1.1),NPCI(Box1.2),andCRIS(Box1.3).
AnNIUwouldmakeavailableessentialinfrastructureforpublicservice. Such
institutionscanmakeitpossibleforGovernmentfunctionstobecarriedoutefficiently,
allowfeasibleprojectstobedesigned,andthusfostereconomicdevelopment. Well
functioningNIUs haveanet positiveeffect onsociety, likeother infrastructure
institutions.1
ForprojectsinGovernment, atahighlevel, thetwomajortasksarepolicymaking
andimplementation. Thepolicyrelatedtaskssuchaspolicyformulationandpolicy
1
MarketInfrastructureInstitutions(MIIs)describedintheReportoftheCommittee(chairedbyBimal
Jalan)areacloselyrelatedconcept: http://www.sebi.gov.in/commreport/ownershipreport.pdf
10 REPORTOFTHETECHNICALADVISORYGROUPFORUNIQUEPROJECTS
THE APPROPRIATE PLACEMENT OF TASKS
Box 1.1: National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL)
1. NSDL is a company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956, and regulated by SEBI.
2. The principal sponsors UTI, IDBI, and NSE are required to hold a minimum of 51% stake. Principal
sponsors give an undertaking that they stand responsible for all operations carried out by NSDL.
3. Other stakeholders include SBI, banks, and depository participants.
4. Paid-up equity of Rs.80 crores; Net worth above Rs.100 crores, as required by SEBI regulations.
5. There are no Stated restrictions on listing NSDL in the stock exchange, other than the 5% maximum
stake requirement for any shareholder; but only depository participants can be shareholders.
6. NSDL is managed by a Board of Directors; it is governed by its bye-laws, and its business operations are
regulated by business rules.
7. Though NSDL is a profit-making company, it does not have quarterly targets and does not work towards
maximizing profits. Windfall profits and increase in revenue volumes are adjusted through reduction in
tariffs and charges.
8. Operating model involves:
(a) Outsourcing to external vendors/ service providers. Certain activities like system administration, DB
administration, UAT, regression and volume testing, requirements gathering, system analysis are
done by in-house functional analysts and engineers
(b) Operating expenditure based contracts with Government customers
(c) Capital expenditure based / fixed price/ time-material contracts with vendors/ suppliers
(d) NSDL has the autonomy to pay market-linked salaries to its employees. The compensation levels
are benchmarked with financial services sector and IT sector.
(e) NSDL is not bound by Government procurement regulations
enforcement should be carried out by Government. The NIU would be primarily
responsible for technology-related aspects of implementation, bound by tight service
level agreements (SLA), and subject to periodic audits. The project must be designed so
that strategic control is retained within Government.
1.3. Institutional framework and strategic control
1.3.1. Independent management
The structure of the NIU should be such that it should be able to work without the
need for day-to-day guidance and advisory from the shareholders/members/Board.
The management should be independent and empowered to take quick and efficient
business decisions pertaining to attracting and retaining talent, procurement, rapid
response to business exigencies, adopting new technologies etc. The independence of
the management is linked to the financial independence of the NIU. Therefore, the NIU
should be able to get funding independently and have a self-sustaining financial model
(for e.g. levy user charges/ charge for services or a combination). The entity should be
empowered to commit and sign appropriate SLAs with customers and vendors.
1.3.2. Strategic control within Government
Given the sensitivity of the role that the NIU will play, it is necessary that strategic
control be retained within Government. Strategic control primarily should be focussed
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 11
THE APPROPRIATE PLACEMENT OF TASKS
Box 1.2: National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)
1. Incorporated as Section 25 company under Companies Act, 1956
2. Ten promoter banks (State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, Union
bank of India, Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Citibank, and HSBC).
3. Authorized capital is Rs.300 crore; paid up capital is Rs.30 crores. Equity contribution in NPCI is not
considered as an exposure to financial markets.
4. Board composition: Chairman, nominee from RBI, nominees from promoter banks, MD and CEO.
5. Intent was to involve the top banking community as shareholders to the company.
6. The core business of NPCI is inter-bank transaction processing
7. NPCI termed as Deemed public sector; it falls within the ambit of CVC and RTI due to its public sector
status.
8. Challenges faced by NPCI include:
(a) Pricing pressure from competition
(b) Service management expectations
(c) Restrictions on scaling the organization due to Section 25 status
(d) Having customers as board members
on the vision and outcomes of the project, rather than controlling the functioning and
management of the day to day affairs of the NIU. Providing flexibility to the NIU is not
necessarily against achieving the broad objectives and outcomes of the project.
Strategic control can be achieved by having a strong dedicated team within
Government inter alia to drive policies, design a suitable solution architecture, supervise
execution, frame appropriate contracts, adopt outcome based pricing, evolve SLAs, and
conduct independent audits.
1.3.3. A flexible institutional framework
In order to evolve an operational model that would help in achieving the twin objectives
of independent management within the NIU, and retention of strategic control within
Government, the Group evaluated two alternatives; namely a Society (registered under
The Societies Registration Act, 1860) and a Company (registered under Companies Act,
1956).
A Society is governed by its bylaws, which are specifically defined for each Society.
The Societies Registration Act, 1860, provides full flexibility to the members of the
Society to define the bylaws based on which the society is to be governed and managed.
A Company is governed by Companies Act, 1956. Under the Act, there is a clear
distinction between Management and the Governing Body (Board of Directors). The Act
also lays down the roles and responsibilities of Directors, including the Managing
Director.
A society can be created with bylaws that allow for independence of the management
team with regard to operations, including HR policies and compensation norms,
procurement process, and financial decisions. However, in order to retain strategic
control, the society needs to be controlled by Government and its processes may have to
be aligned with Government processes.
12 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
THE APPROPRIATE PLACEMENT OF TASKS
Box 1.3: Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS)
1. CRIS has been formed as a society governed by its own bye-laws. It was registered as a society under the
Societies Registration Act, 1986.
2. CRIS’s interface with the Ministry of Railways is managed through a Directorate at the Ministry. It is
headed by a dedicated Managing Director.
3. The society’s structure requires it to approach the Ministry of Railways for financial approval.
4. CRIS has avenues to raise resources through levy of 10% service charge with respect to the procurement
of goods and services it undertakes with respect to various projects. However, in recent times, even this
service charge is being reduced / eliminated due to cost cutting by the Ministry.
5. Challenges faced by CRIS include:
(a) Constraints on financing of projects
(b) Limited business continuity due to staffing by officers on deputation for short periods
(c) Interfacing with the Ministry through the Directorate can sometimes be sub-optimal and slow
On the other hand, a company’s management is provided with the requisite
empowerment to operate independently with regard to day to day operations and yet be
accountable to the Board. The Companies Act, 1956, provides for more elaborate and
rigid norms (as compared to a society) with respect to accountability and transparency.
The governance structure of a Company allows for Government to retain strategic
control (by virtue of being a shareholder and also a customer), without impeding the
independence of its management.
In the context of executing complex projects in Government, a company structure is
preferable over a society due to greater ability to raise funds and it allows for financial
independence, operational flexibility, quicker decision making, greater accountability,
and transparency. In the context of a society, the ability to attract different kinds
of capital is limited and the structure is not viable for the public-private nature as
envisioned in the long term.
The Group therefore recommends that the NIU should be structured as a company
with limited liability and be subject to sound corporate governance norms, such as those
required for listed companies. While the company should not be listed on a stock
exchange, the board composition, accountability, and transparency norms for NIUs
should be the same as prescribed for listed companies.
1.4. Ownership
The following characteristics would be appropriate for NIUs:
1. Total private ownership within NIUs should be at least 51%. As a paying customer,
the Government would be free to take its business to another NIU, if necessary. At
the same time, the Government could moderate the functioning of the NIU by
virtue of being the owner, through its position on the Board.
2. The ownership share of the Government in an NIU should be at least 26%.
3. No single private entity should own more than 25% of the shares in an NIU.
Institutions that have a direct conflict of interest (eg. IT companies) should not be
permitted to be shareholders.
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 13
THE APPROPRIATE PLACEMENT OF TASKS
4. An NIU should not go for an initial public offering or list itself on public exchanges.
5. NIUs should be dispersed-shareholding corporations with a professional manage-
ment team who are not owners.
6. A re-mutualisation approach may be thought of, wherein the shareholders of
an NIU are the entities who stand to greatly benefit indirectly from its success.
This would help align their incentives to the impact of the NIU upon society, as
opposed to a focus on dividends and valuation.
7. An NIU should preferably have a net worth of Rs.300 crore. This will ensure that
the NIU is well-capitalized, can hire the best people at competitive salaries, and
invest adequately in infrastructure, so that it can manage large-scale national
projects.
8. The articles of association of the NIU may include a cap on dividend payouts,
to ensure that the incentives of the owners do not drive it towards profit-
maximization.
1.4.1. Desirable features
NIUs are important institutions, since they aid the functioning of Government. Due to
various factors such as a large upfront sunk-cost, economies of scale, and network
externalities from a surrounding ecosystem, they are essentially set up as natural
monopolies. It is thus essential that a monopolistic operator is obliged to provide access
to a competing NIU, when one emerges. For example, the Depositories Act, 1996,
requires full interoperability among all depositories. NSDL was initially set up as the
first depository, whose creation was facilitated by Government. However, when CDSL
emerged, the customers benefited from interoperability across depositories.
The following are desirable features for effective functioning of an NIU:
1. Self-financing: The NIU should be capable of self-financing its operations and
providing for its sustenance in the near future.
2. Make reasonable profits: The NIU should endeavor to generate reasonable
profits in order to be self-sustaining. The NIU should levy reasonable charges on
its users without abusing its dominant position. The NIU must not maximise profit
or valuation. Salaries of employees should not be linked to profits. The salaries
should be competitive and market driven, to ensure that the best quality of people
for the job can be hired.
3. Net worth: The net worth of the NIU should be available as a last resort to meet
exigencies and ensure that it is able to remain as a going concern.
4. Professional standards and competitive practices: The NIU must maintain
the same professional standards in all its dealings including dealings with its
competitors, its technology providers and related entities. It must be able to
maintain its integrity by being unbiased while dealing with all such entities.
5. Transparency: The NIU should maintain utmost transparency in its operations.
The NIU on its website should at least make disclosures that are mandated for a
listed company.
6. Technology: The NIU should be willing to invest in technology for increasing
efficiency, reach and economies of scale.
7. Competition: NIUs would have characteristics similar to those of monopolies.
Hence, it is essential to create enabling conditions that allow new entrants to
enter the market, with necessary safeguards in place.
14 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
THE APPROPRIATE PLACEMENT OF TASKS
1.5. Allocation of tasks and responsibilities
The Government-NIU relationship must be in the spirit of a partnership, rather than that
of a vendor and customer. The relationship may be defined by an Agreement, which
contains the allocation of tasks and responsibilities between the Government and the
NIU, financials, and SLAs.
In the early phases of a project, during incubation, the Government may also
have to be actively involved with implementation of technology. The NIU should also
engage the services of domain experts from within and outside the Government during
incubation and subsequent stages of implementation. Both, the Government and the
NIU should have teams that are dedicated to the project, which will facilitate smooth
decision making.
The concerned Department that owns the project and is responsible for its successful
implementation should lay down clearly the project goals and charter. Business change
is the driving force, and technology is an enabler. Therefore, a Mission Strategy
Document for the project that inter alia details the functions, and capabilities of the IT
system, which would assist in bringing about the desired business change, should be
prepared.
The Department should recognize the capabilities and limitations of the technology
solution, while the NIU should perceive its responsibility as extending beyond merely
meeting a technical or legal requirement under the Agreement, but as providing a
holistic service to achieve the projected business change.
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 15
HUMAN RESOURCE POLICIES
2
Human resource policies
2.1. Background
All projects that aim at effecting a business change through enhanced use of IT systems,
are first of all, governance projects. The success of a complex project with multiple
objectives and multiple stakeholders requires a strong Mission Execution Team that is
capable of driving all business and technology issues.
This team should get the total support and involvement of the top management
within Government, acceptance of change and use of IT systems by all, particularly, the
host of end users. Investment in peopleware and effective harnessing of human capital
deployed for conceiving, designing, implementing, maintaining, and running of such
systems is indeed a clear need in the context of large projects such as those under study
by this Group.
These projects require a diverse mix of skills, ranging from domain specific
knowledge on business issues and managing large decentralized organizations, to
specialised skills in domains such as technology design, vendor development and
informed buying, contract facilitation and monitoring, law, relationship building,
communication and outreach. Today, Departments have officers who are business
specialists, with a deep understanding of the Department’s business and domain
knowledge as well as officers who are generalists, who manage the running of a large
decentralized organization. For the execution of large complex projects that include
mission-critical IT systems, it is important to complement the skills within Government
with specialised skills from the private sector.
The Group had the benefit of interaction with officers of Departments that have
implemented large projects with a significant IT component and based on the same,
the following human resource challenges within Government have been identified as
requiring consideration:
1. Absence of leadership and active ownership of projects
2. Outdated recruitment processes and methodology
3. Inability to pay market salaries for specialised skills
4. Lack of diverse opportunities and variety in assignments
5. Lack of avenues of continued enhancement of professional skills and career
growth opportunities
16 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
HUMAN RESOURCE POLICIES
6. Non-conducive work environment
7. Outdated performance evaluation and preference for seniority over merit
8. Untimely transfers of officers posted to handle certain project functions
2.2. Key recommendations
2.2.1. Leadership and active ownership
The Group is of the view that strong support from the top management within
Government, leadership at the level of project implementation, and ownership and
commitment at various operational levels are necessary concomitants of success of any
project. The concerned Department should put in place a high level body that will
review the progress of the project during its implementation and later evaluate the
realization of benefits and objectives on a periodic basis.
Further, every project should have:
1. A dedicated Mission Leader within the Government Department responsible for
the project
2. A dedicated Mission Execution Team should support the Mission Leader
3. The Mission Leader should have the freedom to choose the Mission Execution
Team from within or outside the Government
2.3. Recommendations for the Government team
2.3.1. A dedicated Mission Leader in Government
Typically, complex mission-critical projects in Government are anchored under an officer
of the level or seniority of a Joint Secretary. Often, this Joint Secretary has a number of
other responsibilities also that they may have to attend to on a daily basis. While this
model works well for projects that are already on course and only day-to-day operations
have to be managed, it does not work well for new and complex projects that are
getting off the ground.
Every mission-critical project in Government should therefore have a dedicated
Mission Leader who holds the rank of a Joint Secretary or Additional secretary or above
in the Government of India. If the project is being implemented within a Department,
the Mission Leader should directly report to the Secretary. The Mission Leader should be
fully responsible and empowered for all aspects of the project: policy, decision-making,
human resources, finance, procurement, and all other aspects of implementation. The
Mission Leader must have skills and expertise (including experience with IT projects)
specific to the project, which must be corroborated by a quantifiable track record. The
selection of the Mission Leader should be open to all officers within Government, and
through open advertisement.
2.3.2. A dedicated Mission Execution Team in Government
The Mission Execution Team is a dedicated team that is focussed on project imple-
mentation. A diverse set of skills are required for successful execution of complex
projects. These skills include intimate familiarity with the Government processes,
specialisation in verticals such as technology, outreach, law, as well as the ability to
manage a large decentralized organization, among others. The Mission Leader should
have full flexibility in hiring the Mission Execution Team, combining people from
the public and private sectors. This team, including the Mission Leader, should have
adequate tenure (at least 5 years) for purposes of continuity, so that institutional
memory can be created and retained.
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 17
HUMAN RESOURCE POLICIES
2.3.3. Recruitment and tenure of the Mission Execution Team
Professionals may be hired from within the Government, or from the private sector into
the Mission Execution Team in a number of ways as indicated below:
1. Posting suitable officers to the project from the same cadre;
2. Inducting officers on deputation from other departments at suitable compensation
under the Central Staffing Scheme; persons selected through this process should
be given a tenure co-terminus with the project timelines, and be given all benefits
of promotion while working on the project, so that they will not suffer on account
of non-reversion to their cadre at the time of promotion; and
3. Infusion of talent from the private sector by way of lateral entry.
Other modes of staffing the Mission Execution Team that could be considered are as
follows:
1. Hiring professional resources on contract basis;
2. Appointing consultants at market rates on contractual basis;
3. Recruiting sabbaticals from industry, who continue to be employed by the parent
organization, but spend all their time on the Government project;
4. Recruiting volunteers who come from various walks of life through a well-defined
volunteer selection process; and
5. Recruiting students from various colleges and universities as interns through a
well-defined internship program
Given that a diverse mix of people may be inducted into a project, it is essential
that all recruits should be made familiar with Government rules and procedures,
perhaps through a short training course. With the exception of recruiting volunteers
and sabbaticals1 , the rest of the methods of recruitment are provided for even now. The
recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission on contractual appointments2 may be
referred to in this context. These provisions should be more widely used for the five
projects in view, and also other projects that may be launched in the future.
2.4. Staffing of the NIU team
An NIU, on the other hand, can hire professionals from the market at market salaries.
Just as the Government team will have business specialists, and experts from other
domains, so should the NIU have a management team with the right domain knowledge,
and other essential expertise in areas such as technology, law, and outreach. The NIU
should also take on its staff, professionals from the Department, who have the requisite
business domain knowledge, so that the IT systems they develop and implement is
backed by people with relevant domain experience.
2.5. Database of IT Projects and Centres of Expertise
The Group is of the view that the Government should set up a Database of all IT projects
implemented in the public sector, including the PSUs. This database should contain
comprehensive details of the individual projects and the key personnel associated
with the project. Such a database will assist in identifying the IT talent available in
the country, which can be tapped to meet the specific or general requirements of any
1
Hiring sabbaticals, volunteers, and interns at UIDAI: http://uidai.gov.in/index.php?option=com
content&view=article&id=154&Itemid=15
2
Sixth Pay Commission (Paragraph 1.2.6): http://india.gov.in/govt/paycommission.php
18 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
HUMAN RESOURCE POLICIES
similar project of national importance. Further, the task of drawing IT professionals on
deputation from different departments and PSUs as also on contract basis from the
private sector would be facilitated. Secondly, Centres of Expertise within the country
would need to be identified for providing assistance by way of project consultancy
through accredited professionals and advanced training in the field of IT management.
2.6. Capacity Building and retention of in-house staff
The Group suggests the following measures for capacity building in the departments
embarking on large, complex projects with mission-critical IT systems:
1. The training curriculum for the existing workforce of various services should
include training on the technical aspects of IT systems, project management
and evaluation, procurement management, governance issues, and change
management.
2. Mid-career programs should also be designed in such a way that senior officers
are not only able to provide the required leadership but also coach and mentor
junior managers.
3. All induction programs and furbisher programs for employees should include
basic knowledge of IT systems, hands-on training in departmental IT projects and
effective use of information flowing from Computer applications.
4. In-service personnel, who already possess technical knowledge should be trained
in the latest technologies and in fields in which they like to specialize.
As regards retention of in-house staff on IT projects the following measures are
suggested:
1. In-service officers deployed in IT functions should be provided with IT professional
allowance on the lines of the training allowance at the rate of 30% of their
remuneration. Such a provision is justified for the following reasons:
(a) In-service officers deployed in IT functions are entrusted with the important
task of preparation of operation manuals and conducting of training programs
for end users and the ICT aware staff on a continuing basis.
(b) These professionals are expected to possess specialised skills in evaluation,
procurement, and management of technologies, and maintain communica-
tions with various stakeholders. The IT skills of these teams require regular
refresh to enable them to engage meaningfully with IT vendors, optimize
investment in IT infrastructure, and ensure that systems development
remains aligned with business requirement.
(c) Such officers are part of the Mission Execution Team and have to put in long
hours of work.
(d) Strong IT and domain skills in Government teams ensure that strategic
control remains within the Government.
2. The Performance Linked Increment Scheme as suggested by the Sixth Pay Commis-
sion for Central Government employees, should be implemented supplementing
the same with performance linked training programs in special skills.
3. A scheme of non-monetary incentives such as public acknowledgement of their
contributions, certificates of outstanding performance etc. should be instituted
with a view to motivating both in-service officers and contracted personnel.
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 19
HUMAN RESOURCE POLICIES
4. Full opportunity should be provided for every individual to equip himself for
higher levels of responsibility through individual and group assignment and
training programs to ensure that his/her needs are satisfied. In order to enable
employees to develop multiple IT skills, both technical and managerial, they
should be provided with work diversity in different application areas and different
technology. This would enlarge the opportunity spectrum available to the
employees.
2.7. Conducive work environment
Other measures suggested for consideration for creating a conducive work environment
are as follows:
1. The in-house end users of information systems, who are at the front end, are
generally the least prepared to handle the change that is sought to be effected by
extensive automation and e-governance techniques. Without user participation in
planning the overall strategy of implementation and in-systems development
and testing, it is difficult to buy their support and ownership of the system. End
users should be able to assist in on line processing of work, get information from
the system and also provide inputs for improvement. Such end users should be
provided appropriate training and support and encouraged to make their own
contribution to the success and continuous improvement of the project outcomes.
2. With a view to raising the motivation levels of in-house employees, creation
of a proper work environment is a clear necessity. Towards this end, team
formations should be done with care and thought so that those who are in the
initial phase of their careers are placed along with supportive co-workers, who are
willing to coach and mentor them. Managers should also be trained in coaching.
Employees should be sensitized about the vision and values of the organization
and encouraged to contribute towards realizing the same. Access to learning by
choice in areas of interest to the employees and also useful to the organization and
availability of feedback from managers in order to measure their contributions
and gain greater control over their work should be part of creation of the right
work environment.
2.8. Performance Appraisal
The discussions held by the Group have revealed that the present appraisal system
within Government has several salutary aspects, such as filing of a resume by the
employee and review by the higher authority. There are detailed instructions explaining
the way the appraisal should be conducted. Yet, there is a widespread perception that
the system is beset with shortcomings.
The Group is of the view that the method of performance appraisal has to be
reconsidered, by redefining the purpose and principles, conducting a job analysis,
obtaining employee feedback, reviewing standards of objectivity, conducting training for
both managers and employees and reviewing/evaluating the results of the system.
Greater objectivity and according appropriate weight to the overall contribution of
the individual has to be given due consideration. Since increasingly, Government is
undertaking tasks which demand greater professional skills, such as IT skills, merit
should be given primacy over seniority within a given band of eligible appointees.
Adoption of performance management techniques would be particularly relevant
for appraising the performance of in-service officers entrusted with the task of
implementation of mission-critical projects.
20 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
3
Contracting
3.1. Background
Many an IT project fails due to shortcomings in contracting. The contracting process
defines the placement of tasks; which tasks are kept within Government, and which are
outsourced. As discussed in Chapter 1, a contract for large complex project is likely
to suffer from over-specification or under-specification, especially if there exists no
precedent or proof-of-concept study. This chapter provides general recommendations
for good contracting
A study on E-Governance & IT Services Procurement: Issues, Challenges, and
Recommendations1 has been published by NASSCOM. This includes a review of
Government procurement guidelines, and highlights challenges from the Government’s
perspective as well as the industry perspective.
Contracting is a well-understood subject within Government. Nevertheless, the
following general aspects that impinge on the relationship between the supplier and the
Government merit a mention as they have equal relevance for a relationship in the
nature of partnership or vendor customer model.
1. The solutions proposed by the supplier should focus on and meet the busi-
ness needs spelt out by the Department owning the project and not just the
technical/operational requirements.
2. Through the lifecycle of the project the supplier should produce realistic plans,
including timeframes, resources, technology, mode of delivery and financials, and
align the same with the business needs.
3. The supplier should as far as possible ensure continuity in employing trained
personnel on the project from start to the steady State.
4. Both should share in a timely manner all information about technical/financial/personnel
problems.
5. Both should set up a mechanism for co-operation and dialogue.
6. Both should agree and document change control processes,address risk factors
and avoid informal and cosmetic changes.
1
E-Governance & IT Services Procurement: Issues, Challenges, and Recommendations (NASSCOM):
http://egovreach.in/index.php/pages/national
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 21
CONTRACTING
7. Both should recognize that estimates of price, timeframes should be realistic and
achievable.
3.2. Contracting with National Information Utilities
The success and timely completion of a project depends a great deal on the completeness
of the contract. The ideal contract defines all requirements exactly, and addresses all
possible contingencies — it is a risk management tool. Based on this ideal contract, the
ideal firm can bid perfectly, and execute the contract as specified.
However, it is not always possible to achieve the ideal of specifying all require-
ments/contingencies with respect to complex IT projects right at the time of inception.
Both over-specification or under-specification should be avoided.
As described in Chapter 1, NIUs work in the spirit of partnership with Government.
The NIU is an intermediary of sorts, between the Government, and the IT vendors that
build the project. An NIU-based approach is an incremental approach. An NIU approach
also leads to a clean separation of roles in the steady State, where the Government
focuses on policy, and the NIU focuses on implementation and execution.
The Government-NIU relationship can be defined through an Agreement. The
Agreement outlines the broad project goals, placement of tasks, financials, SLAs, and
most importantly, embodies the spirit of partnership. The Agreement should include the
following:
1. Scope of work
2. Activities to be undertaken by NIU
3. Obligations of the Government and NIU
4. Financial Arrangement
5. Service Level Agreement
6. Business continuity plan upon exit
This relationship is further defined through ownership and governance structures
for NIUs, which are set up as private companies with a public purpose. Even though
the NIU is set up as a natural monopoly, the ownership and governance structures
combined with the fact that it is set up to service just one customer at a pre-defined
service level, act as the right checks and balances.
An example of the risk management methodologies adopted in the TIN Agreement
is provided in Box 3.1.
3.3. Aspects to be covered in the agreement with NIU
The Agreement between the Government and the NIU should cover in clear terms all
the aspects discussed in the succeeding paragraphs in this section.
3.3.1. Scope of work
The scope of work is a high-level functional (but complete) description of the project at
hand. It clearly defines the tasks to be undertaken by the NIU, and defines the milestones
and deliverables. Further details may be provided in other detailed specifications
documents.
22 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
CONTRACTING
Box 3.1: Risk management in TIN
Income Tax Department (ITD) provided for adequate measures to ensure the quality of service in TIN. These
measures included:
1. An Agreement signed with NSDL that covered:
(a) Scope of services by NSDL
(b) Responsibilities of NSDL and ITD
(c) Regular MIS to ITD
(d) ISO 9001-2000 certification for TIN processes
(e) ISO 27001 certification for NSDL Information Systems security practices
(f) Periodic Review of TIN operations jointly by ITD and NSDL
(g) Third party audit to monitor quality and security of the systems and processes established by NSDL
2. Service Level Agreement signed with NSDL to ensure that NSDL continues to provide services as required
by the department.
3.3.2. Activities to be undertaken by NIU
In order to accomplish the tasks assigned to it, the NIU may be required to set up
infrastructure and implement supporting processes. These activities should be defined
at a functional level to the extent possible under this head.
3.3.3. Obligations
The obligations of both, the Government and the NIU should be articulated as clearly as
possible in the Agreement. These obligations are necessary conditions for the success of
the project, and will be monitored through SLAs.
3.3.4. Financial arrangement
Typically fixed-cost pricing is preferred for systems that have reached their steady State.
However, the Agreement between the Government and the NIU is at a functional level,
unlike traditional tendering, which is often at an implementation level. As a result, it is
essential that outcome-oriented pricing be adopted. The pricing should be for the
accomplishment of the business objectives on a per transaction basis. The onus is then
on the NIU to figure out sizing, scaling, storage, capacity etc.
3.3.5. Service Level Agreement
Very strict and detailed SLAs are essential when Government contracts out a project to
an NIU on the basis of an Agreement. It is only through SLAs that the obligations can
be monitored, and the financial arrangement implemented. The agreement should
allow for strict penalties if SLAs are violated. The Government should also appoint
Independent auditors to ensure that the NIU continues to provide services as agreed
upon.
3.3.6. Business continuity plan upon exit
In the event that the Government wishes to terminate the relationship with the NIU,
there should be a business continuity plan outlined in the agreement. There should be
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 23
CONTRACTING
an elaborate continuity plan as per industry best practices to ensure that the project
process does not get halted during exit of the vendor or during transition. For this
purpose, the contract should lay down a clear handover/transition plan, the required
logistics for transfer of hardware/software, migration of data, provision of a transition
team, data security and confidentiality, among other things.
24 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
4
From startup to going concern
4.1. Background
The startup phase of a project may be defined as the phase from incubation to the point
where a long-term institutional capacity is set up to manage operations on a regular
basis. The challenges faced by a project during the incubation phase are very different
than challenges faced in steady-state operations. The Government may have to play an
active role during incubation, shifting to a largely regulatory role in steady-state.
Effective incubation can help the project rapidly get off the ground. The incubation
phase includes issues that range from mundane issues such as setting up an office
and hiring staff to devising incentive compatible solutions that are agreeable to all
stakeholders.
This chapter presents a broad framework for incubation that can help projects get
off the ground rapidly. An example of incubation recommendations made in the context
of the NTMA is presented in Box 4.1.
4.2. Institutional framework for the project
One of the first steps in the incubation of a project is the creation of a suitable
institutional framework. Depending on the nature of the project, it may either be
housed within a Department, or in a new institution created with the specific purpose of
executing the project. Various institutional frameworks that were examined in the
context of NTMA are described in Box 4.2.
4.3. Incubation of a new National Information Utility
While a project itself may be housed within one of various available institutional
frameworks, an NIU that serves the project should necessarily follow the structure as
described in Chapter 1.
In the case that a new NIU is being created to support a particular project, it can be
incubated within an existing NIU. Subsequently, when the project achieves some level of
maturity, the project team and project assets (tangible and intangible) can be spun off
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 25
FROM STARTUP TO GOING CONCERN
Box 4.1: Incubation of National Treasury Management Agency
A committee headed by Dr. Jehangir Aziz has proposed Establishing a National Treasury Management
Agency (NTMA) The report has been shared with regulators, State Governments and other relevant agencies for
their comments. The report is essentially a Mission Strategy Document that discusses the need for the NTMA, the
legal framework, stakeholders, and the process of incubation. It also includes a draft of the National Treasury
Management Agency Bill. Chapter 8 of the report outlines the following steps for incubation:
1. The NTMA would commence operation as a non-statutory office of the Ministry of Finance, as was done
in the early days of SEBI, IRDA and PFRDA. A mechanism will need to be arranged for MOF to give the
NTMA a budget in this phase. The key tasks that need to be put into place at the outset are:
(a) Office premises
(b) Setting up an organisation chart
(c) Establishing an HR process; recruiting key individuals into this organisation chart
(d) Establishing the advisory board
(e) Setting up a series of outsourcing relationships
2. Establish databases about the Central Government’s debt and contingent liabilities, along with a website
3. Establish a research and analytical capability
4. Plan out bond market processes and market mechanisms for bond issuance and trading
5. Stakeholder analysis and reaching out to market participants
6. Linkage of the NTMA IT platform with IT platforms of Government, exchanges, depositories, and
investors
7. After the NTMA is set up, the core debt management functions can be transferred from RBI to the NTMA.
into the new NIU. The original NIU, in this case, should be compensated appropriately
for the resources it deploys.
4.4. Mission Strategy Document
At the outset, the project should publish a Mission Strategy Document that describes
the project, the stakeholders, the broad legal framework, the solution architecture,
the nature of the platform and role of the ecosystem, and potential pricing. The
strategy may evolve over time, but the guiding principles should be sound and remain
unchanged. The process of creating such a document also helps set and manage the
expectations of stakeholders, and ensures that the solution is designed in a way that is
acceptable to all stakeholders.
The report of the Working Group on Establishing a National Treasury Management
Agency1 can serve as the Mission Strategy Document for the NTMA. The UIDAI published
early on, the UIDAI Strategy Overview2 that described the strategic vision, from which
many aspects of implementation have been derived.
1
Establishing a National Treasury Management Agency: http://finmin.nic.in/reports/Report Internal
Working Group on Debt Management.pdf
2
The UIDAI Strategy Overview: http://uidai.gov.in/UID PDF/Front Page Articles/Documents/Strategy
Overveiw- 001.pdf
26 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
FROM STARTUP TO GOING CONCERN
Box 4.2: Institutional frameworks considered for NTMA
In the report on Establishing a National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), the Working Group (WG)
considered various institutional frameworks:
1. An Executive Agency: The WG recommends an Executive Agency as a sound interim step, but suggests
that such a structure would face resource constraints, and risk being perceived as closer to the Centre
rather than a neutral agent of Central and State Governments.
2. A Company: While providing flexibility and independence, the WG noted that regulatory certainty and
predictability are crucial when an agency implements the Government’s decisions on a core sovereign
function such as debt management, and that judicial decisions on company law may affect this
regulatory certainty.
3. A Society or Trust: These structures were rejected as impractical as they would limit the range of
financial instruments that NTMA could deploy.
4. A Statutory Body: The WG recommended that the NTMA be a Statutory Body for the purposes of
operational flexibility, accountability to Central and State Governments and to Parliament, financial
expertise, and for the ability to prioritise public policy objectives rather than tactical trading objectives.
4.5. The right team
It is essential that the best teams be put in place within Government and within the NIU.
This should be the first and foremost priority of all projects. The chapter on human
resource issues (Chapter 2) describes general principles for putting a project team in
place within Government and in the NIU.
4.6. Consultations with stakeholders
Consultations with stakeholders early on in a project is crucial to set it along the right
trajectory. At a minimum, stakeholders include:
1. Multiple levels of Government, or other Government Departments
2. NIU
3. Banking system (if funds are involved)
4. Service providers whose services are essential for the project
5. Customers and end-users
Depending on the nature of the project, it may be necessary to hold consultations
with various other Departments, trade associations, marginalized groups, etc. These
consultations are necessary to ensure that an incentive compatible solution is designed,
which is acceptable to all stakeholders.
4.7. Legal framework
A legal framework, with enabling policies may be necessary for a project to go live. This
may require passing a Bill, modifying subordinate regulation in Central and State Acts,
or in some cases, a constitutional amendment. A strong legal team working with all
stakeholders is a must for every project.
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 27
FROM STARTUP TO GOING CONCERN
4.8. Incremental rollout
The project should be rolled out as soon as possible, and iterated rapidly, rather than
waiting to roll out a perfect system. This represents a recent shift in the way large
IT projects are implemented today; the style having been popularized by modern
internet firms processing millions of transactions daily. Such a rapid iterative rollout
process makes it possible to get customer feedback early on, and allowing mid-course
corrections as necessary. It also helps keep the project teams motivated and excited.
4.9. Government-NIU relationship during incubation
1. The Government should have a dedicated Mission Execution Team as described
in Chapter 2. The Government’s role is to set policy, co-ordinate with other
departments, and provide strategic direction, whereas the NIU focuses on
execution and implementation.
2. In the early stage, the Government agency / Department works alongside the NIU
in an entrepreneurial spirit of trying to understand the challenges and design a
system that will deliver results. Many research and development sub-projects and
proof-of-concept studies may get initiated at this stage. The Government and NIU
jointly define the requirements post these learnings.
3. As the system starts falling into place, the role of Government changes to:
(a) Conducting proof-of-concept studies
(b) Giving feedback on misfeatures, bugs and additional specifications
(c) Setting up the institutional capability for scaling
4. Once the rollout is completed, the Government’s role shifts largely to that of a
customer. It should compute metrics of performance of the system in all respects
such as performance, cost, accuracy, and release these into the public domain.
Quarterly reviews of the performance of the system should be undertaken at the
highest levels. A variety of external experts should be brought in on a regular
basis to study the functioning of the system, and to critique it along with proposals
for improvement.
5. Even after these complex IT systems are fully running, none of these systems
ever stand still. The very success of a project generates an array of areas where
extensions are possible, and the magnitude of scale-up that can arise out of
success can be quite dramatic given the size of India. A consultative process needs
to be established for agreeing on new features of the system and ongoing change
management.
28 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
5
Multiple levels of Government
5.1. Background
A class of national infrastructure projects have been implemented successfully today,
which include a stock exchange (NSE), depository and Tax Information Network
(NSDL) etc. This class of applications has typically had a single owner and could be
Centrally implemented. A new class of applications such as GST, NPS, and EIN will span
multiple levels of Government where Central, State, and Local Governments will all
have jurisdiction and some role to play in successful implementations. This chapter
deals with the concerns in the implementation of IT projects within a federal structure
with multiple stakeholders, and recommendations to address those concerns.
5.2. Decentralized governance
Decentralisation of Government is a healthy feature of democracies when it produces
a tighter link between accountability through elections and the delivery of local
public goods. States have constitutional autonomy in certain areas under the Indian
constitution. IT systems designed as a single application may be perceived to shift the
balance of power within the federal structure.
Every Government at every level that is touched by an IT project is a stakeholder.
Thus, a project such as GST that requires buy-in from all States, or EIN, which spans all
levels of Government, is unlikely to succeed, if the IT systems are designed and operated
by one of the Governments. There is always the fear that a non-transparent system,
with control concentrated with some of the stakeholders may affect the autonomy of the
others. This may happen in subtle ways due to inefficiencies, delays, and errors, which
are not uncommon in complex IT systems in early stages. A critical aspect of the success
of such IT projects is that the solution must be incentive compatible for all stakeholders.
Common functions should be included in a single application shared by all stakeholders.
IT projects that span multiple levels of Governments may be classified into two
types:
1. Projects such as GST, NTMA, and EIN where the NIU aids the core function, or
aids carrying out a sovereign function of multiple levels of Government.
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 29
MULTIPLE LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT
Box 5.1: Solution design for GST
The Common GST Portal has been designed as follows:
1. Common minimum functionality (PAN registration, standardized return filing, and standardized challans
for payments) is built into the Common GST Portal
2. Only information flows through the Common GST Portal, whereas funds flow through the banking
system
3. Given that GST will be an important source of revenue, the funds arrive in almost real-time from the
taxpayer, through the banking system, into the State and Central Government treasuries. Thus, the
constitutional autonomy of all Governments is respected by the IT system design.
4. The Common GST Portal passes the information on returns and challans immediately to the tax
administration systems, while enhancing this information with intelligence gathered from matching
returns
5. The design and implementation of the Common GST Portal has started while policies such as tax rates
are being debated and the legal framework is being put in place
2. Projects such as NPS, where the core function is carried out by a Central agency,
but co-operation among Government agencies is required for the purposes of
uniformity, standardization, interoperability to maintain levels of service and
drive economies of scale.
5.3. Need for a single application
IT systems naturally lend themselves to development as a single application developed
by one team. A single application may be deployed in a decentralized environment, but
its development must necessarily be centralized.
IT systems developed as a single application encourage standardization, drive
economies of scale, higher efficiency and increased productivity. Systems thus developed
are efficient in the use of public funds, which otherwise may be spent on multiple
platforms implementing similar but incompatible technologies multiple times. Such
systems can be developed so that they can be customized at every deployment point, but
it still operate as a unified application. This also offers a uniform customer experience
for all interactions with Government.
As communication networks become more pervasive, technology solutions are
getting increasingly centralized. As an example, rather than storing email on their
PCs, people prefer to have their email on the web, and find it convenient to access it
anywhere. Banks have moved from distributed branch automation software to Core
Banking Solutions (CBS) over the last twenty years. This does not necessarily mean
that the software runs in one data centre only. On the contrary, every branch runs an
extension of the CBS software itself.
5.4. Solution design for multiple levels of Government
Solutions for projects that involve multiple levels of Government need to be designed
carefully. Not only is it necessary to manage stakeholder concerns and incentives, but it
is also necessary to ensure that the solution respects the constitutional autonomy of all
levels of Government involved in the project. Increasingly, projects that span Central
30 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
MULTIPLE LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT
and State Governments are being undertaken, and going forward, projects that span
Central, State, and Local Governments will be undertaken.
Projects spanning multiple levels of Government require consensus building that
may take time. Various Governments may also have to create the right legal framework
for the project to operate in. The design and implementation of the solution itself takes
a long time. These two activities, consensus building and solution design need not
necessarily be sequential. The basic design and the nuts and bolts of the implementation
can be put in place while policy details are being debated. Eventually, the policies
agreed upon are only an input to the solution, and will change from time to time. Work
on actually building the IT systems should thus start at the earliest possible date, while
policies are reflected within the solution as consensus is achieved.
As mentioned earlier, such projects should also be implemented as a single
application while respecting the constitutional autonomy of all Governments involved.
Common minimum functionality can be built into a Common Portal, in such a way that
its basic functionality can be enhanced by local customizations such as look and feel,
local languages, and local policies, to mention a few. Such a design allows for low cost,
scale, interoperability, speed, simplicity, a uniform customer experience, and portability
of service. The application of these design principles for the Common GST Portal are
described in Box 5.1.
5.5. NIU approach to align incentives
The committee recommends the following for projects that span multiple levels of
Government:
1. Clearly identify all stakeholders.
2. Form an Empowered Committee of representatives drawn from every stakeholder
for all decision making. If this Empowered Committee is large, a smaller
Empowered Group may be appointed for carrying out the day-to-day business.
3. Form an NIU for implementation of the IT system.
4. All levels of Government that are participating in the project may become owners
of the NIU, so that they have an equal say in the way the NIU conducts its
business.
A joint ownership structure as described above helps align incentives across
stakeholders and build consensus by giving them an equal say in decision making,
and insuring against an uneven distribution of control favouring one stakeholder
over another. A common single application also saves costs and dramatically reduces
complexity for all stakeholders, while allowing customization and extension as necessary.
An example of this strategy in the case of GST is described in Box 5.2.
In the case that all State Governments and Central Government are owners, the
Board of the NIU may end up having too many members. The Board may be, in such
cases, comprised of about ten members, with equitable representation of Centre and
States. The States may also be represented by rotation and by a body that represents all
States. Various committees are also necessary to overlook various aspects of the project,
and nominees of all States should be co-opted into these committees.
Getting the governance structure of the NIU right calls for a delicate balance. On
one hand, Governments by virtue of their shareholding, are owners. On the other
hand, the same Governments are customers. For a typical firm, owners and customers
are not the same. Thus, if owners are unhappy with the management team, they can
terminate the relationship. If customers are unhappy with the service, they take their
business elsewhere. However, if one of the owners is also the customer, these checks
and balances may not be as effective as otherwise. The recommendations in Chapter 1
on ownership and governance structures of NIUs take these issues into account.
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 31
MULTIPLE LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT
Box 5.2: Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN)
GSTN is an NIU that is being set up to serve multiple levels of Governments (Central and State) in GST:
1. The Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers (EC) has appointed an Empowered Group on IT
(EG-IT) to oversee the IT implementation at an operational level. The group has created high-level IT plan:
The IT Strategy for GST, which has been embraced by all stakeholders
2. The IT strategy for GST called out for the need of a Common GST Portal to implement common
functionality
3. A team within Ministry of Finance is working on the legal framework necessary for GST
4. A new NIU (GSTN) has been proposed to operationalize GST
5. Upon evaluating current NIUs such as NSDL and NPCI, the Ministry of Finance has decided to incubate
GSTN within NSDL
6. It has been proposed by the EG-IT that GSTN be set up as a Section 25 Company
7. The EG-IT has also recommended that Centre and States would have equitable representation on the
Board which should comprise of about ten members. The States could be represented by rotation and
also by EC (or its successor). In case the funding of the States was routed through EC (or its successor),
the Empowered Committee would be considered as the representative of all the States, for all compliance
purposes. To ensure participation of a larger number of States in the governance of GSTN, the Board
would be supported by additional Committees in which nominees of other States could be co-opted.
5.6. Building a coalition for change
The execution of large complex projects such as GST, EIN, NPS etc. require building a
coalition of change. IT, although a major component, is not the only component. Such
large scale computerization often involves business process re-engineering. When such
sweeping changes are being carried out, inevitably enough, in the larger interests of
certainty and uniformity, some of the stakeholders may have to give up some restrictive
practices, while some others may have to adopt certain regulation as against their
existing regime. Particularly in the context of GST, an additional consideration may be
that of encouraging a common market and freer movement of goods and services. With
a successful coalition for change, such large and complex projects are more likely to
succeed.
Stakeholder analysis is an important step in building such a coalition. Once
stakeholder analysis is conducted, incentive-compatible solutions can be built. It is
recommended that the project release a Mission Strategy Document that guides the
implementation going forward. The process laid out for incubation of Government
projects and NIUs in Chapter 4 is designed to foster a coalition of change early on in the
life cycle of a project.
Success of large complex projects such as the five unique projects under considera-
tion depends on much more than getting the IT right. Building a coalition for change
greatly increases the odds of success, especially in projects involving multiple levels of
Government. Some of these approaches are being tried in the implementation of GST
(Box 5.2).
32 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
Part II
Technology challenges
33
6
Solution architecture
6.1. Background
The solution architecture of a complex IT project is an important factor for the success
of the project. This chapter focuses on retaining strategic control of the project within
Government, by working closely with the implementation team on designing the right
solution architecture.
The Group deliberated on good software development practices such as project
planning, milestones, development frameworks, quality assurance, and user acceptance
testing, among others. Given that many of these are implementation level details,
which are well understood within industry, and may vary from project to project, the
Group is of the opinion that individual projects should make their own choices on
software development processes. The Group also does not touch upon common and
well defined practices for mission-critical applications such as disaster recovery centres,
high availability, 24-by-7 operation, and fault tolerance; these architectural design
principles are well understood by software designers and architects. Some of these
issues are discussed in the Guidelines for Strategic Control in Outsourced Projects released
by the Department of Information Technology, Government of India1 .
6.2. Essential elements of a solution architecture
6.2.1. Map out a long term IT strategy
At the outset of a project, the IT strategy should be conceived and published as part of
the Mission Strategy Document as described in Chapter 4. A functional system diagram
should be created that captures the following at a conceptual level:
1. Role of multiple levels of Government
2. Key business processes and workflows (information flow, funds flow, etc.)
3. Integration with various stakeholders
This forms the basis of the solution architecture, and serves as a guide for implementation
level details.
1
Guidelines for Strategic Control in Outsourced Projects: http://www.mit.gov.in/sites/upload files/dit/
files/Guidelines Strategic Control Outsorced Projects 251110.pdf
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 35
SOLUTION ARCHITECTURE
Box 6.1: Change management in TIN
The project was subdivided into a number of small components and specific milestones were identified for these
components so that the project could be monitored on a regular basis against specific deliverables.
1. Compulsion to File Returns in Electronic form: When the new scheme was introduced in FY 02–03,
only corporate deductors were required to file returns in electronic form. From FY 04–05, it was made
mandatory for the Government deductors to file the returns in electronic form. More segments of
deductors were brought in to the mandatory list in due course of time.
2. Quoting of PAN and TAN in tax payment instrument: To begin with, taxpayers were allowed to
deposit their taxes even without quoting of TAN/ PAN in their challan. Once the system for issuance of
TAN and PAN stabilized, ITD made it mandatory for the taxpayers to quote TAN / PAN in the tax payment
challan. Today, more than 98% of TDS challan have valid TAN and 95% of non-TDS challan have valid
PAN.
3. Preparation of e-Returns: A simple ASCII text-based file format for submission of e-Returns was
published. Any software designer or platform provider could prepare returns in this format. A free return
preparation utility was launched, so that small deductors would not have to incur a cost in buying
software. A platform independent file validation tool was made freely available, so that filers could verify
their returns before submission.
4. Return Acceptance: The filers could either upload the returns directly to the TIN system on the internet
or submit the return to any of the TIN facilitation centres across the country.
5. Upload of challan details by banks: ITD also prescribed a standard ASCII text-based file format for
upload of challan details to TIN. A platform independent file validation utility for challan files was
provided to the banks. Banks were provided the flexibility to upload the challans through leased line
connections that they had with NSDL for depository operations, or use dial-up PSTN/ISDN links, or use the
internet.
This approach is being followed for the implementation of GST, where The IT
Strategy for GST was defined and accepted within Government even before the NIU
was selected. The report of the Working Group on Establishing a National Treasury
Management Agency1 and the UIDAI Strategy Overview2 are also examples of Mission
Strategy Documents that describe the solution architecture at a high level.
6.2.2. Structured change management
Business process re-engineering (BPR) is essential to the success of an IT project.
When a large number of organizations and disparate user segments are involved, it is
important to phase the re-engineering. Changes that are most critical for efficiency can
anchor the transformation process. A structured change management process should be
put in place, so that the process is incremental. A principle of least surprise to the user,
so that minimal change in user behaviour is required, is a good principle to guide the
change management process. Box 6.1 describes an example from TIN.
6.2.3. Reflection of policy changes in IT systems
Changes in policy should be accompanied by the corresponding changes in IT systems;
the two should go hand-in-hand. For projects that depend on mission-critical IT systems,
if policies cannot be implemented using the IT system, it may be difficult to enforce
1
Establishing a National Treasury Management Agency: http://finmin.nic.in/reports/Report Internal
Working Group on Debt Management.pdf
2
The UIDAI Strategy Overview: http://uidai.gov.in/UID PDF/Front Page Articles/Documents/Strategy
Overveiw- 001.pdf
36 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
SOLUTION ARCHITECTURE
Box 6.2: Interoperability among depositories
Depositories are established under the Depositories Act, 1996. Initially, there was only one depository, NSDL.
Over time, as the concept was accepted, and markets took off, CDSL (another depository) was created. Even
though NSDL started out as the only depository, competition emerged over time. The fact that the Securities and
Exchanges Board of India (SEBI) required interoperability among various depositories ensures that the customers
and the ecosystem are not affected when competing depositories are created.
them practically. Thus, when a change in policy is planned, the teams responsible for
the IT systems should be consulted. The policy change should then be announced when
the modifications in the IT system have been completed.
6.2.4. Data quality
As the saying goes “garbage in, garbage out”; an IT system is only as good as the data it
consumes. The system design should have a self-cleaning mechanism. For example, the
UIDAI proposes to authenticate the identity of a resident based on data they have
provided during enrollment. The system is self-cleaning, because it is in the resident’s
interest to ensure that the system has correct data, in absence of which he cannot
authenticate his own identity. Similarly, TIN has seen a gradual increase in data quality
over time, as taxpayers realized the benefits of electronic filing and electronic payments.
Further, clean data can be ensured by standardisation of processes, matching
and verifying information in workflows, simple and well defined open data formats,
electronic payments and processing, instant feedback to customers, incentives for
compliance, and penalisation for non-compliance. It is through incentives that data
quality can be managed, rather than micromanagement of stakeholders.
6.2.5. Vendor neutral solution
The solution architecture should be vendor neutral. Open standards should be adopted
and open source should be used as prudent. In the case that specialised software
components are used, the project should define an open standard and require vendors
to comply. Multiple vendors can also be selected for such components. Issues relating
to openness are discussed further in Chapter 7. It is for this purpose that both, the
teams within Government and in the NIU, should include technology experts. A vendor
neutral solution architecture also makes it easy to change NIUs or vendors if necessary.
A credible threat of migration also ensures competitive pricing.
6.2.6. Interoperability and multiple providers
Interoperability among multiple service providers is essential to foster competition
in the long run. This can only be achieved if interoperability is built into the system
architecture from the outset. Projects that are implemented with NIUs essentially
establish natural monopolies in the early stage. Once the requirements are well
understood and the ecosystem has formed, there may be justification for competing
firms. The example from depositories (Box 6.2) illustrates this point quite well.
6.2.7. A platform strategy
A large complex IT project touches a number of stakeholders. It is desirable that such
projects employ a Service Oriented Architecture in their design. This makes it possible for
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 37
SOLUTION ARCHITECTURE
Box 6.3: A platform strategy in banking
A bank account is a great example of a platform strategy. A bank keeps a bank account in its core banking
platform. This account may be accessed in a number of ways:
1. At the bank branch
2. Through mobile phones using m-banking
3. Through phones using IVR systems and call centres
4. Through the internet using computers, smart phones, and tablets
5. Through ATMs
6. Through debit cards
7. By payment processors to enable merchant transactions
8. By billers for the purposes of automatic billing
If bank accounts were not designed following a platform approach, it would not have been possible to access
them through so many channels.
an ecosystem to evolve around standards and services provided by Government. The
example of open file formats published by NSDL for e-Returns and e-challans in TIN
(Box 6.1) are a good example here. It ensured that the end customer had multiple
options to prepare returns. There was no lock-in of a particular software or service
provider. Many independent software providers could create new software bringing in
competition. At the same time, existing financial accounting software packages could
support the new file formats effortlessly. An example from banking is described in
Box 6.3.
6.3. Essential public goods
Almost all projects within Government, and the citizens at large will benefit from the
essential public goods of connectivity and payments. The Group recommends that
Government should make it a top priority to provide connectivity and banking facilities
ubiquitously.
6.3.1. Connectivity
The Group’s conceptualisation of a platform approach to service delivery entails that at
the front-end, the data entry and retrieval architecture must be real-time and ubiquitous.
In order to enable this, data connectivity at the front-end is critical. The front-end would
include Government offices in tier 3 and tier 4 locations as well as Local Governments
in rural locations for services such as e-procurement and payroll. For services such as
TIN, PAN, and other Government-to-citizen services, the front-end would also include
non-Government facilitation centers.
Connectivity in the country has improved by leaps and bounds. The Government
has launched various initiatives to ensure last mile connectivity across the country. The
recent acceptance of Aadhaar for satisfying proof of identity and address for all telecom
connections by Department of Telecommunications will also ensure greater telecom
inclusion2 .
2
Aadhaar as proof of identity and address for telecom connections: http://uidai.gov.in/images/
FrontPageUpdates/2011117 114142 telco notification.pdf
38 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
SOLUTION ARCHITECTURE
6.3.2. Banking system interface
For all services that entail payments to citizens, the last mile interface is the weakest
link. An efficient payments and transfers system warrants bank connectivity to every
individual and institution, including those in remote rural areas. In the absence of bank
accounts, payments have to be effected via an intermediary, which in turn creates room
for leakages. With a universal bank account, it can be mandated that payments are
made directly into bank accounts. In order to achieve this vision of all payments being
universally routed through a bank account, the following are proposed:
1. Account opening: Access to bank accounts should be universal. Although the
KYC guidelines are largely enabling, more effort in account opening needs to be
undertaken. The recent acceptance of Aadhaar as proof of identity and address for
opening bank accounts can help accelerate financial inclusion3 . In the absence of
a bank account for every individual, the ability to accurately ascertain individual
level outcomes of payments made is not there.
2. Unique identification of individuals and firms: We need to minimise errors in
identifying individuals (as beneficiaries under various schemes) and firms and
ensure foolproof ways for transactions to be authenticated. Dovetailing efforts
with the Aadhaar initiative can ensure that payments can be sent electronically by
various Governments directly to beneficiaries on the basis of their Aadhaar using
an Aadhaar payments bridge. Further, microATM and mobile-based person-to-
person payments can be simplified by giving concrete shape to the approved
framework of the Inter-Ministerial Group for delivery of Basic Financial Services 4 .
For firms, the PAN has emerged as the unique identifier. All submissions by
individuals and non-individuals that involve money transfer and payments
should be made electronically and they should be authenticated and validated
immediately, to the extent possible.
The Government should closely work with all stakeholders to define a uniform
banking interface for Government, so that inter-Government payments may be tightly
integrated with internal processes within Government.
3
Aadhaar as proof of identity and address for opening bank accounts: http://uidai.gov.in/images/
FrontPageUpdates/notification regarding aadhaar.pdf
4
Report of the Inter-Ministerial Group for delivery of Basic Financial Services: http://www.mit.gov.in/
content/Government- approves- framework- provision- basic- financial- services- through- mobile- phones
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 39
OPENNESS
7
Openness
7.1. Background
Openness should be an integral part of Government projects. This chapter refers to
openness of technology. Openness in technology can refer to the open standards, open
data, and open source. The project management team should actively pursue openness
at all stages of the project implementation.
Openness is a two-way street. On the one hand, Government, as the producer of
public goods funded by taxpayers should define open standards, and release open
data in open file formats, along with open source software to the extent possible. On
the other hand, the use of open standards, open data, and open source within large
complex IT projects brings down costs, leads to higher competition, and increased
transparency in implementation.
The Mission team within Government should be committed to the principle of
openness to the extent possible. The Department of IT has also released a Policy on
Open Standards for e-Governance1 , which can serve as a guide for openness.
7.2. Open standards
The use of open standards in the design and implementation of open standards is highly
desirable in IT systems. Multiple vendors provide competing solutions that can be used
interchangeably with open standards. For example, all major database vendors provide
databases that can be used interchangeably. However, most vendors will also provide
proprietary extensions that lead to vendor lock-in. The system design must be done
carefully, fully adhering to open standards.
While Department of Information Technology notifies national policies on standards
from time to time, a project should publish domain specific open standards to cultivate
an ecosystem. It is important to note that these new open standards are not devised in a
top-down approach, but are created out of necessity, and from practical experience.
Examples from UIDAI on publishing new open standards are mentioned in Box 7.1.
1
Policy on Open Standards for e-Governance: http://egovstandards.gov.in/approved- standards/
egscontent.2010- 11- 12.9124322046/at download/file
40 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
OPENNESS
Box 7.1: Open standards at UIDAI
The UIDAI has deployed open standards in the design and implementation of its IT systems, as well as released
open standards relevant to its core mission. For the core mission of UIDAI of collecting demographic and
biometric data of residents to issue Aadhaar numbers, the following standards have been published:
1. Demographic data standards: The UIDAI published standards for the collection and storage of
demographic data in the Demographic Data Standards and Verification Procedure Committee
Report’, under the chairmanship of Mr. Vittala . This includes standardization of the data fields to collect
and store name, address, date-of-birth, and gender.
2. Biometric data standards: The UIDAI published standards for the collection and storage of biometric
data in the Report on Biometrics Design Standards for UID Applications, under the chairmanship of
Dr. Gairolab .
a
Demographic Data Standards and Verification procedure Committee Report: http://uidai.gov.in/
UID PDF/Committees/UID DDSVP Committee Report v1.0.pdf
b
Report on Biometrics Design Standards for UID Applications: http://uidai.gov.in/UID PDF/
Committees/Biometrics Standards Committee report.pdf
7.3. Open data
The Government, as a producer of public goods should release data in well-defined
formats electronically, when possible, as prescribed by the Right to Information Act,
2005. Open data can become a foundation for a number of transformational IT projects
in Government. Innovative firms and individuals can combine various types of data to
glean new information that may not have been possible from the individual datasets.
Open data is already released by various Government agencies. One example is the
Department of Statistics, under the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation,
which releases various statistics based on surveys and compiling the national accounts.
This can be emulated throughout Government. There is a need of a much greater scale
of release of unencumbered data, placed into the public domain, of information created
within Government.
There can be economic data, map data, census data, pollution data, water data, soil
quality data, climate data, PIN code data, administrative boundaries data, health data,
Government accounts data, etc., which is released by the relevant ministries. Early
international experiences1 of releasing open data using open file formats have resulted
in mashups, which combine data from multiple sources and present it in ways that yield
new insight, have been encouraging.
Open data can become the foundation of a transparent and accountable Government.
Thus, it is important that the designers of IT systems keep open data in mind. This point
is elaborated further in Chapter 9.
7.4. Open source
Open source refers to providing the source code of a computer program in the public
domain, for others to examine and use. Today, entire operating systems, desktop
software, office productivity suites, and server software are examples of software that
are available as open source.
1
Release of open data using open file formats: US (http://www.data.gov) and UK (http://data.gov.uk).
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 41
OPENNESS
There are some who believe that in cases where open source software is available,
no commercial software should be used. This can sometimes be counter-productive,
since there may be cases when commercial software is better suited than the open
source versions. It is not a good idea to force the use of specific software of any type;
instead, the focus should be on adopting open standards, and using open source as
prudent.
The Mission Execution Team in Government should also ensure that components of
a project that may be reusable by other projects are released as open source software.
While some may argue that the Government should open source the entire project, the
Group recognizes the intellectual property of the NIU. The committee also recognizes
that it may be counter-productive to the business planning and profitability of the
NIU to release all source code as open source. The Government and NIU should work
together from the early phases of the project in deciding what components can be open
sourced.
In summary, there are enormous benefits from both using open source that is
available off the shelf, from participating in the development process of existing open
source software so as to extend existing open source systems into superior functionality
(while feeding these extensions back into the public domain), and from releasing new
open source systems. Every IT system in Government will benefit from pushing in all
these three directions. At the same time, these three approaches should not become an
inflexible dogma.
7.4.1. An Open Source Foundation
Today, the major impediment to Government projects releasing source code is the lack
of a proper process for open-sourcing applications and housing them. The existence of
an open source foundation, along with a well-defined process to release open source
software can help drive the creation of an effective e-governance software stack.
The Group suggests that the Government in partnership with concerned stakeholders
should set up an open source foundation2 to host open source software released by
Government projects.
2
Some examples of open source foundations are the Apache software foundation (http://www.apache.
org/foundation/) and Eclipse foundation (http://www.eclipse.org/org/).
42 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
8
Information security
8.1. Background
As the use of mission-critical IT systems becomes widespread within Government,
the growing connectivity between these information systems, the Internet and other
infrastructure, create opportunities for increasingly sophisticated attacks on such
systems. Such attacks may be made by individuals, non-state players, as well as by
hostile Nations. It is therefore essential to ensure that any disruptions of critical
Government information systems are contained and managed effectively to minimize
their impact. The security team for important projects must be best in class, and the
security solutions must always be cutting edge at all times.
Information security breach may include consequences such as financial losses,
systems being rendered unusable, intellectual property theft, damage to the organiza-
tion’s brand and reputation, and legal exposure or lawsuits, among others. These
consequences may be on account of: confidential records or sensitive information being
compromised or being made unavailable, identity theft due to customer or employee
information being stolen, modification or alteration of the operating system programs,
software applications, files, data etc., or crippling of infrastructure such as networks and
applications.
These concerns are heightened when aspects of national security also come to the
fore, an example of which is described in Box 8.1.
8.2. Institution-wide support for information security
Security is widely regarded as a hygiene factor which comes to fore only in times of
disaster, while in organizations that manage security well, the ownership of security vests
at the highest levels of governance. Without the visible support of senior management it
may not be possible to actually implement the required security framework, ensure
compliance by users and elicit co-operation.
Implementing security is often considered a one-time activity, which is effectively
discharged when funding approvals are accorded for a technology stack. It is often
perceived that having a set of information security tools will ensure adequate protection
for a reasonable period of time. Even as implementing teams close all the known
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 43
INFORMATION SECURITY
Box 8.1: Geo-political nature of attacks on IT systems
Stuxnet is an Internet worm that infects Microsoft Windows computers. It primarily spreads via USB sticks, which
allows it to get into computers and networks not normally connected to the Internet. Once inside a network, it
uses a variety of mechanisms to propagate to other machines within that network and gain privilege once it has
infected those machines.
Stuxnet doesn’t actually do anything on those infected Microsoft Windows computers, because they are not the
real target. What it looks for is a particular model of Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) made by Siemens.
These are small embedded industrial control systems that run all sorts of automated processes: on factory floors,
in chemical plants, in oil refineries, at pipelines, and in nuclear power plants.
If it does not find one, it does nothing. If it does, it infects the PLC using what was then an unknown and
unpatched vulnerability in the controller software. The changes made by Stuxnet are very specific, targeting a
specific group of PLCs, leading many to believe that Stuxnet’s authors had a specific purpose in mind.
Stuxnet does not act like a criminal worm. It does not spread indiscriminately. It does not steal credit card
information, or account login credentials, nor does it herd infected computers into a botnet. It does not threaten
sabotage, like a criminal organization intent on extortion might; it performs sabotage. The damages due to
Stuxnet have also been compared to a military operation.
Analysis of the worm suggests that it was expensive to create. It is estimated that a team of talented programrs
developed it over a period of six months, in a laboratory setting.
Source: Forbes magazine (Oct 2010), New York Times (Jan 2011)
weaknesses and gaps, intruders develop new and more sophisticated methods of attacks.
Thus the information security landscape is dynamic in nature and techniques that
worked at one point may not suffice for the current year. Often a regular high level
review and monitoring framework is not in place, leading to a reactive rather than
proactive approach to information security.
Within the NIU framework suggested in this report, security should be given utmost
importance by the Mission Team within Government, and by the management team
at the NIU. A Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) should be appointed who is
empowered and fully responsible for all aspects of information security: technology,
processes, and people (Figure 8.1).
Security must be part of the ethos of the organization, and can only be achieved
when the entire organization (right from senior management to field personnel) is
geared for it. This requires training and awareness on basic facts about information
security (strong passwords, how systems are hacked, denial-of-service attacks, social
engineering, de-mystifying jargon etc.) all levels.
Getting certified for various standards, and audited by independent security auditors
help provide the CISO with a basic understanding of the level of security within the
organization. It is essential, that as problems are identified, not only the symptoms are
treated, but the root cause of the problems are also identified and processes are put in
place to avoid them in the future.
8.2.1. Certification
Various international standards and best practices can customized to define a compre-
hensive certification framework:
1. The ISO 27001 is a formal management system that brings information security
under explicit management control.
2. ISO 15048 (Common criteria) provides a basis for verifying security functionality
of IT products as well as ensuring that they are free of trap-doors etc.
44 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
INFORMATION SECURITY
Figure 8.1: Controls for information security
3. BS 25999 provides guidelines for the implementation of disaster recovery and
business continuity management framework.
Some of these certifications are expensive to achieve, and although they provide a broad
framework to evaluate security of an IT system at large, they are by no means sufficient.
8.2.2. Audits
Audits are performed by an independent third party, and thus provide an independent
evaluation of the security of an IT system. The scope of audits may include:
1. Technology review: which covers all the technology components of the IT project
such as
(a) Ethical hacking: Vulnerability assessment and Penetration testing of the
network
(b) Application Security: Application security audit to identify known vulnera-
bilities and source code review:
(c) Design Review: Review the IT architecture from security point of view and
identify single point of failure.
2. Process Review: Review should cover all the process related to security adopted
by the IT project such as change management, Log review, access control etc
3. Third party review: Review the security controls deployed by the third parties
on the Government data/information
8.3. Solution architecture and information security
Security should be an integral of the solution architecture, and not an afterthought. The
following ideas can help guide the design of the solution architecture from a security
perspective:
1. Identity, access and entitlement management: Providing authentication and
authorization services are the core objectives of this control. It ensures that
right people have access to right resources. Having access to fewer resources
than necessary for a particular task hampers productivity, while access to more
resources than necessary introduces risk.
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 45
INFORMATION SECURITY
2. Host access management: A dedicated host access management solution
greatly strengthens the security of mission-critical servers. Such a solution can
improve security, simplify and reduce the cost of server administration, and
provide significantly improved audit capability needed to address regulatory
compliance and security best practice requirements.
3. Data encryption: Encryption of data ensures that information stored in the
system (referred to as plaintext) is transformed into an unreadable form using
an algorithm (called ciphertext) for anyone except those possessing special
knowledge, usually referred to as a key. This helps in providing assurance of
confidentiality of information, even in cases of unauthorized access.
4. Data hashing: Hashing of data ensures that any alteration to even a bit of data
drastically changes a special fixed length code called hash, created from the
original data stream. This helps in providing integrity assurance to trusted set of
information. Passwords and other sensitive information are often stored only as
hashes, so that access is granted only if the generated hash matches a stored hash.
5. Data classification and data loss prevention: : Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
systems are designed to detect and prevent the unauthorized use and transmission
of confidential information. DLP increases the effectiveness of existing controls
by minimizing inadvertent and malicious data loss, and will empower the
organization to comply with various data protection regulations. It provides a
customizable level of control at critical areas throughout the Organization — at
the endpoint, the network, the message server and for stored data.
6. Transaction audit: It is imperative to analyse transactions for anomalous
behaviour as well as to collect sufficient forensic data for each transaction so as
to enable the monitoring engine to establish the difference between a normal
transaction and a fraudulent transaction.
7. Interaction security: At interaction level, it is necessary to ensure that security
is taken care of at each interaction point that includes people-system interaction
as well as system-system interaction. All workflows and business processes should
be developed keeping security in mind. All the interactions must be under audit
and audit trails should be secured. There must be clear and specific security
policies that define roles and responsibilities for all interaction in the organization.
8.4. Threat to information security from insiders
Projects that depend upon mission-critical IT systems may have a number of employees,
and an order of magnitude larger number of customers. Employees are given privileges
within the system to enable them to carry out their daily functions. It has been observed
in a number of cases that security is often at risk due to insiders having authorized
access, but use this authority in ways that are malafide. A security-conscious design
of the solution architecture, combined with a dedicated CISO and security team
are essential to combat not only external security threats, but also security threats
emanating from within the organization.
8.5. Legal framework governing information security
In order to deal with information security crimes, the Information Technology Act, 2000
(hereinafter, referred to as IT Act, 2000) was passed, covering inter alia:
1. Legal Recognition of Electronic Documents
2. Legal Recognition of Digital Signatures
46 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
INFORMATION SECURITY
3. Offenses and Contraventions
4. Justice Dispensation Systems for Cyber crimes
The Information Technology Act, 2000, was further amended through the Infor-
mation Technology Amendment Act, 2008 (ITAA 2008). ITAA 2008 addresses the
emergence of various types of cyber-crime, such as identity theft and the creation of
malicious computer code. This Act provides the legal framework to promote IT in the
country and:
1. Empowers Government to accept filing, creating and retention of official docu-
ments in the digital format.
2. Provides for legal effect, validity and enforceability of electronic records.
3. Provides for the authentication and origin of electronic records and communica-
tions through digital signature.
4. Provides a more exhaustive coverage of cyber crimes in law.
Some other Acts (and their associated regulations) which Government organiza-
tions are required to comply with (apart from the statutes governing the concerned
Departments), include Indian Evidence Act 1872, Official Secrets Act 1923, Indian
Copyright Act 1957, and Right to Information Act, 2005.
8.6. National level considerations
The Group has suggested a security-conscious design of the solution architecture, a
dedicated security team headed by a CISO, and basic security training for all employees
to tackle internal and external security threats to a project. There is merit in sharing
information and learnings across various Government projects, and co-ordinating
across projects in case of large-scale attacks on various systems. The security teams of
individual projects should integrate with existing agencies set up by the Government
such as CERT-In1 , and with other frameworks that evolve over time.
1
Cert-In (http://www.cert- in.org.in/) is the national nodal agency for responding to computer security
incidents as and when they occur.
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 47
ACCOUNTABILITY, TRANSPARENCY, AND SELF-CORRECTIVE FORCES
9
Accountability, transparency, and
self-corrective forces
9.1. Background
The passage of the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) that guarantees citizen access
to nearly all Government information not deemed to be critical for national security, has
caused a sea change in how citizens interact with, and monitor, Government.
If deployed effectively, information technology has the potential to serve as a
powerful tool to bring about transparency and accountability of Government services.
Yet, increased transparency and accountability is by no means a guaranteed outcome of
a Government IT project. IT projects which are not designed with an explicit objective
of increasing transparency, which lack a clear channel through which the IT system will
increase transparency, or which fail to take into account the interests of the various
stakeholders in the IT system will fail to increase transparency or accountability.
9.2. What to share
The Group recommends that designers of Government IT systems take a pro-active
stance in deciding which information to share publicly. As a large share of the
information collected by the Government must be provided according to the provisions
of the RTI Act, proactively sharing data can obviate the need for responding to RTI
requests on an individual basis, while also making it easier for citizens to access this
data.
9.3. Solution architecture and transparency
The architecture of an IT project must be designed keeping a transparency portal in
mind. A large IT project produces large volumes of data daily. If a transparency portal is
designed as an afterthought, the end result may be lack-lustre.
Typically, the same software architecture for data warehousing, data mining and
business intelligence required within an IT project for policy support and analysis can
48 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
ACCOUNTABILITY, TRANSPARENCY, AND SELF-CORRECTIVE FORCES
also support the operations required for a transparency portal. Even though a portal is
created with basic analytical capabilities, all the data should be made available in
simple, well-defined, machine-readable formats.
9.4. Self-corrective forces
A transparency portal for an IT project in Government works as a positive feedback loop.
The fact that such a portal is implemented, means that analytics about the performance
of the project are generated immediately. As a result, any deviation from expected
behaviour is detected quickly and rectified.
In case such a portal is not well thought out, potential problems may manifest
themselves much later, and may turn out to be difficult to fix. A transparency portal
leads to monitoring and feedback at various levels: within the service provider, within
Government, and by citizens at large. The NREGA MIS portal is an example of such a
transparency portal (Box 9.1).
9.5. Contact centre
The contact centre closes the feedback loop of self-corrective forces. It establishes
multiple channels of communication with all stakeholders, including end-users, for
purposes of gathering information and reporting grievances. An effective contact centre
is tightly integrated with the IT systems, so that queries and complaints can be dealt
with effectively, and information is recorded and updated on a real-time basis. Some of
the key features of such a contact centre1 are as follows:
1. Provide services in multiple languages
2. Provide inbound channels of communication such as voice, fax, letters, e-mail,
and a web portal
3. Provide outbound channels such as voice, fax, letter, e-mail, and SMS messages
4. Available during working hours, or on a 24-by-7 basis, depending upon the nature
of the project
5. Deploy key technologies such as a Customer Relationship Management application
(CRM), Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS), Automatic Call Distribution
(ACD), Computer Telephony Integration (CTI), call logging, quality management
system, email response system, and scanning solutions for letters and faxes.
9.6. Crowd-sourcing
Enabling citizens and beneficiaries of public schemes to directly provide feedback
using web and mobile phone-based platforms is a powerful way of involving citizens in
improving public accountability. It unlocks the potential of collective wisdom2 . In
addition, the ability to combine spatial and financial data can provide very powerful
maps to track the progress of various initiatives and schemes.
1
An example of a contact centre from UIDAI: http://uidai.gov.in/UID PDF/Front Page Articles/Recent
Tenders/CONTACT CENTERS/RFP for setting up and operating contact centers for UIDAI Ver3.pdf
2
Examples of technology platforms that have successfully used crowd-sourcing are Ushahidi, Transparent
Chennai, Environment Sustainability Index, Pollution Index, and e-Government’s foundation projects.
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 49
ACCOUNTABILITY, TRANSPARENCY, AND SELF-CORRECTIVE FORCES
Box 9.1: NREGA MIS portal
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) aims at enhancing the livelihood security of the people
in rural areas by guaranteeing hundred days of wage employment in a financial year, to a rural household whose
members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. The Act contains specific provisions for public accountability.
Based on the statutory directives, the guidelines stipulate a three-pronged strategy for public accountability:
proactive disclosure, social audit, and a grievance redressal mechanism.
The Ministry of Rural Development has set internal and external systems to closely monitor NREGA both physical
and financial performance of States.
1. Management Information System (MIS): A web enabled public MISa hasbeen developed. The village
level household database has internal checks for ensuring consistency and conformity to normative
processes. All critical parameters get monitored in public domain: a) workers’ entitlement data and
documents such as registration, job cards, muster rolls, (b) shelf of approved and sanctioned works,
works under execution, measurement (c) employment provided (d) financial indicators including wage
payment. Till FY 2008-09, 6 crore Job Cards and 1.2 crore muster rolls have been placed on MIS.
2. Statutory institutional mechanisms: At the national level, a Central Employment Guarantee Council
has been set up with the statutory mandate of monitoring and reviewing the Act. The Ministry also
invited the CAG to conduct a concurrent audit of the program in the very first year of implementation to
assess gaps in program implementation by States, so as to initiate remedial measures at an early stage.
3. Other mechanisms: Other mechanisms include National Level Monitors and Area Officers, and officials
of the ministry who undertake annual field visits, quarterly performance review with States. A
Professional Institutional Network (PIN) has also been constituted for steady, sustainable interventions
that enhance the quality of the program. These institutions will conduct impact assessment, concurrent
monitoring and appraisal, research, capacity building to identify both good practices factors that have or
will limit the optimal performance of the scheme. Currently, the network has 18 member institutions,
including Indian Institute of Technology (IITs), Indian Institute of Management (IIMs), Administrative Staff
College of India (ASCI), Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Agriculture Universities and other
professional institutions. In its first phase, 13 institutions have conducted an NREGA appraisal.
a
NREGA MIS portal: http://www.nrega.nic.in
9.7. International experiences
Various Governments are now leveraging the capabilities of IT platforms to democratize
public data, to drive innovation, and provide transparency in the operations of
Government. Some of the notable examples of portals that aggregate Government data
and make it available in common data formats are as follows:
1. USA:
(a) The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA) of 2006
requires that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) establish a single
searchable website, accessible to the public at no cost, which includes for
each Federal award: the name of the entity receiving the award; the amount
of the award; information on the award including transaction type, funding
agency, etc; the location of the entity receiving the award; and a unique
identifier of the entity receiving the award. http://USAspending.gov was
first launched in December 2007 to fulfill these requirements.
(b) A primary goal of http://Data.gov is to improve access to Federal data
and expand creative use of those data beyond the walls of Government
by encouraging innovative ideas (e.g., web applications). Data.gov strives
to make Government more transparent and is committed to creating an
unprecedented level of openness in Government.
50 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
ACCOUNTABILITY, TRANSPARENCY, AND SELF-CORRECTIVE FORCES
(c) http://ITDashboard.gov is a website enabling federal agencies, industry, the
general public and other stakeholders to view details of federal information
technology investments. The purpose of the Dashboard is to provide
information on the effectiveness of Government IT programs and to support
decisions regarding the investment and management of resources. The
Dashboard is now being used by the Administration and Congress to make
budget and policy decisions.
2. Brazil: The Government of Brazil provides a transparency portal for expenditure
data at http://www.portaldatransparencia.gov.br/. This Transparency Portal
was created in November 2004 for the purpose of making it possible for public
managers and citizens at large to follow up on the financial execution of all
programs and actions of the Federal Government more easily. The information
available in it includes: funds transferred by the Federal Government to States,
municipalities and the Federal District; funds directly transferred to citizens;
direct spending of the Federal Government with procurement or contracts for
projects and services, including the spending of each agency with per diems,
office supplies, equipment, projects and services; as well as spending through
Payment Cards of the Federal Government.
3. UK: The Government is releasing public data to help people understand how
Government works and how policies are made. Some of this data is already
available elsewhere, but http://data.gov.uk brings it together in one searchable
website. Making this data easily available means it will be easier for people to
make decisions and suggestions about Government policies based on detailed
information. There are currently over 5, 400 datasets available, from all Central
Government departments and a number of other public sector bodies and local
authorities.
The enabling framework for an Expenditure Information Network (EIN) is slowly
coming into place. There is a need for an effective monitoring, evaluation and
accounting system for the large sums of money that are disbursed by the Central
Government to State Governments, district level agencies and other implementing
agencies. While there are various stand-alone efforts in this direction, there is as yet no
consolidated Expenditure Information Network (EIN). This Group recommends details
of the proposed EIN in Chapter 13.
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 51
PROTECTION OF THE INDIVIDUAL
10
Protection of the individual
10.1. Background
As IT systems become commonplace in governance, issues related to the protection
of the individual’s right to privacy come to the fore. With paper records, the risk of
unauthorized access of large quantities of data has been limited due to the difficulty of
aggregating and accessing the data. When data is stored in electronic format, the risk
is greater. Data protection provisions already exist in existing legislations like the
Information Technology Act, 2000.
The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) is currently engaged in preparing
a legislative framework on data protection, which would also address issues pertaining
to an individual’s data in the context of IT systems1 . These recommendations may serve
as useful guidelines for designers of IT systems until such a date that formal legislation
on privacy is passed.
10.2. Solution architecture and privacy
Just as the solution architecture of a project should be designed taking security
(Section 8.3) and transparency (Section 9.3) into account, it should also be designed
from the ground up to support privacy of end-users. The privacy framework for a
project should be defined early on, which translates the legislation on privacy into
implementable rules for IT systems.
10.2.1. Personal identifiable information
The design of the solution architecture should ensure that any Personal Identifiable
Information (PII) is stored safely, and access is carefully monitored. To the extent
possible, workflows should be designed so that access to PII is avoided. Also, PII should
be stored in encrypted form, and separately from other data. Separate access controls
may be defined, with strict access control, monitoring, and logging of all access to PII
data.
1
Approach paper for a legislation on privacy: http://persmin.gov.in/WriteReadData/RTI/aproach paper.
pdf
52 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
PROTECTION OF THE INDIVIDUAL
Stringent penalties must be in place to address the issue of unauthorized access of
personal data by outside agencies as well as by personnel within the organization. Strict
protocols and processes must be in place to detect such access in order that they are
dealt with swiftly and in a deterrent manner. This is not only desirable from a privacy
perspective, but also from a security perspective.
10.2.2. Anonymization
Anonymization of data is an important aspect of privacy. Data should be carefully
anonymized when released publicly, or when shared with other organizations that do
not require access to PII, as allowed within the data protection and privacy framework.
Careful thought should be given to anonymization, since naive approaches to de-
identifying data are prone to attacks that combine the data with other publicly available
information to re-identify individuals. The concept of k-anonymity has been defined in
the academic literature on privacy, where each record within the system is at least
indistinguishable from k
− 1 other records in the released dataset. Thus, privacy is
protected by guaranteeing that every released record will relate to at least k other
individuals in the dataset, even if the records are directly linked with other external
information. Translating this theory into practice may not be easy, but designers of the
solution architecture should try to approximate such concepts in their design to the
extent possible.
10.2.3. Data retention and usage policy
Data retention and usage policies should be well-defined, especially for PII. It may be
necessary to retain transaction logs for long periods of time for purposes of analysis and
research, but PII should be scrubbed from these logs after a pre-defined period. In case
the legal framework of the project provides for it, an individual should be able to access
data stored in the IT system about themselves, after appropriate authentication of their
identity.
10.3. Balancing the right to privacy with public interest
The right balance between the individual’s right to privacy and the larger public interest
should be achieved by the data protection framework. While personal information
relating to the individual must be strictly protected from unauthorized access, there may
be a need for Government agencies to access or share this data for purposes of national
security, economic offenses, tax evasion and other specified circumstances. Hence,
authorized sharing of information under specified circumstances, ipso facto, should
not be considered as a violation of an individual’s right to privacy. However, detailed
processes, systems and guidelines need to be put in place to ensure that authorized
access and sharing is within the parameters set by law.
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 53
Part III
Recommendations for Ministry
of Finance projects
54
GOODS AND SERVICES TAX
11
Goods and Services Tax
11.1. Introduction
The Goods and Services Tax (GST), which will replace the State VAT, Central Excise,
Service Tax and a few other indirect taxes will be a broad-based, single, comprehensive
tax levied on goods and services. It will be levied at every stage of the production-
distribution chain by giving the benefit of Input Tax Credit (ITC) of the tax remitted at
previous stages. GST is based on a destination-based taxation system, where tax is
levied on final consumption. It is expected to broaden the tax base, foster a common
market across the country, reduce compliance costs, and promote exports. The GST will
be a dual tax with levy by both Central and State tax administrations on the same base.
The GST demands a well-designed and robust IT system for realizing its potential in
reforming indirect taxation in India. The IT system for GST would be a unique project,
which will integrate the Central and State tax administrations.
11.2. Public policy challenges
11.2.1. Placement of tasks
11.2.1.1. Governance bodies
The following governance bodies have been constituted for realizing the vision of GST
and implementing it:
1. The Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers (EC) set up to work
with the Central Government to lay down the features of GST and oversee its
implementation.
2. The Joint Working Group (JWG) constituted by the Empowered Committee
in consultation with the Central Government to prepare the roadmap for GST
implementation.
3. The Empowered Group on IT for GST (EG-IT) formed in July 2010 for devising
the IT strategy for GST and monitoring its implementation.
56 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
GOODS AND SERVICES TAX
11.2.1.2. GSTN as the NIU
The EG-IT has recommended setting up of an NIU — Goods and Services Tax Network
(GSTN), for managing the IT systems for GST implementation, including the Common
GST Portal. GSTN will perform the following functions:
1. Provide common infrastructure and services to Central and State Governments
2. Ensure integration of the Common GST Portal with existing tax administration
systems of Central and State Governments
3. Build efficient and convenient interfaces with tax payers and tax administrators
4. Facilitate, implement and set standards for providing common GST services to the
Central and State Governments
5. Carry out research, study global best practices and provide training to the
stakeholders.
The Group endorses the above approach and recommends that the GSTN should be
set up as an NIU as envisaged in Chapter 1 of this report.
11.2.2. Incubation of the project
The EG-IT has suggested that the GSTN project may be incubated within NSDL and
this suggestion has been generally accepted. The preliminary work of conducting a
proof-of-concept is being undertaken by NSDL and it has been planned to run a GST
pilot with selected State Governments participating in it along with the CBEC. The
Group commends this approach and recommends that the infrastructure for the GSTN
should be based on latest technology and ring fenced, so that whenever the spin-off
takes place, the GSTN infrastructure is smoothly transferred to the proposed NIU being
set up as GSTN.
The IT strategy document for GST prepared by the EG-IT, which defines the
contours of the IT implementation in respect of the GST Common Portal and its interface
with all stakeholders, could form the basis for taking forward the implementation of
GSTN.
11.2.3. Human resources
The Group recommends that a dedicated Mission Leader and a dedicated Mission
Execution Team be appointed for GST. The NIU for the implementation of GST — GSTN
— should be set up with the highest priority.
The Group further recommends that an implementation team, comprising of officers
drawn from the CBEC and some of the State Governments (pending the appointment
of a full-fledged Mission Team and during the pilot stage) should be set up at the
earliest. This team would work along with the teams that would be set up by NSDL for
implementing the project. The two teams should together initiate the implementation
of the GSTN including such as acquisition of necessary infrastructure, design and
development of the application, etc. The personnel selected to man the implementation
team should be trained in the tasks mentioned above. Hiring of talent on contract basis
should also be explored as necessary. This team should later be part of the Mission
Execution Team.
The implementation of GST is based on a substantive change contemplated in the
relevant laws and procedures of Central and State Governments. It is essential that the
GST Mission Execution Team includes professionals with legal expertise.
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 57
GOODS AND SERVICES TAX
11.2.4. Agreement with NSDL
The Agreement with NSDL should be drawn carefully and with clarity.It should include
aspects such as financials, responsibilities of the Government side and NSDL at the
incubation stage, acquisition of infrastructure, development of application software,
ownership of source code, spin-off to the NIU, and the process of transfer of assets
(both tangible and intangible).
Further, though NSDL is assisting the Government in incubating the GSTN, once
GSTN is set up as an NIU, the latter may continue to procure services from NSDL in the
initial phases of GST implementation, as it considers necessary.
The GSTN may, as and when it commences its full-fledged operations, adopt a
business outcome based, per-transaction pricing model. Even during the period when
NSDL is providing such services, a similar approach is recommended.
11.2.5. Multiple levels of Government
The Central and State Governments have accepted in principle the setting up of GSTN
as an NIU, as a way to align incentives of all stakeholders. The joint ownership of GSTN
by all States and Central Government ensures that no stakeholder loses strategic control.
GSTN will develop and operate the Common GST Portal, which will have common
minimal functionality, but will be customizable and extensible by various Governments.
GSTN will render the following services through the Common GST Portal:
1. Dealer registration (including existing dealer master migration and issue of PAN
based registration number)
2. Payment management including payment gateways and integration with banking
systems
3. Return filing and processing
4. Taxpayer management, including account management, notifications, information,
and status tracking
5. Tax authority account and ledger Management
6. Computation of settlement (including IGST settlement) between the Centre and
States
7. Processing and reconciliation of import GST and integration with EDI systems of
Customs
8. MIS including need based information and business intelligence
9. Maintenance of interfaces between the Common GST Portal and tax administration
systems
10. Provide training to stakeholders
The CBEC and State Governments may design and develop their own applications to
meet requirements for effective tax administration such as audit, intelligence gathering,
enforcement, and risk management.
11.3. Technology challenges
11.3.1. Solution architecture for GSTN
The solution architecture for information flow (Figure 11.1 and funds flow (Figure 11.2
is designed to ensure timely delivery of information through the Common GST Portal,
and timely delivery of funds directly through the banking system.
58 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
GOODSANDSERVICESTAX
Figure11.1: GSTsolutionarchitecture: informationflow
State 1
State 2
State n
Common
GST
Portal
(Tax
Booster)
Taxpayers
CBEC
File returns
Banks
Upload challan details
CGST returns
IGST returns SGST returns IGST returns
Send challan
Information flows unmodified through Common GST Portal to states and CBEC
Common GST Portal will also integrate with systems of CBDT, MCA, etc.
Tax Booster
Intelligence Intelligence
CGA, AG
Inter-state settlement Information
RBI
Information Feeds
TheCommonGSTPortalissimplyapass-throughdeviceforinformation,while
enhancingitwithintelligencetoplugleakages. Thetaxpayersendsthereturnwith
GSTN, whichkeepsacopyofthereturnforanalysis, andforwardsitinnearreal-timeto
therespectiveStateandCBEC.Thetaxpayerpaystheactualdutyinthebank,which
uploadsonlythechallandetailsintotheGSTN.Actualfundsneverpassthroughthe
GSTN.
TheCommonGSTPortal reconcilesthereturnsandthechallans. Inadditiontoits
pass-throughrole,theportalwouldalsoplaytwoothercriticalroles:
1. Itwouldactasataxbooster,matchingtheinputtaxcreditsinthereturnsto
detecttaxevasion. ItcanalsointegratewithvariousothersystemsatMCAand
CBDTforverificationofPANorothercorporateinformationandperformdata
miningandpatterndetectiontodetecttaxfraud. Itwouldsendthisinformation
asalerts/reportstotherespectivetaxauthorities.
2. Itwouldalsocomputeinter-Statesettlement,nettingIGSTacrossStates.
11.4. Thewayforward
TheGSTprojectnotonlypresentsseveralpublicpolicychanges, butalsorequires
adherencetotighttimelines. IntermsofimplementationoftheITsystemsforthe
administrationoftheGST,thefollowingimportantmilestonesthatwouldfacilitate
timelyimplementationshouldbekeptinview:
1. Finalisationofbusinessprocesses registrations,returns,payments
2. CommencementofGSTpilotprojectbyNSDLwithidentifiedStatesandCentre.
3. NSDLtosetupcorefunctionalitiesofcommonportal inpilotandprovideAPIsfor
allstakeholders. LimitedtestingofAPIsbyparticipatingstakeholders.
4. Engagingwithparticipatingentitiesforpilotincludingdealers, banksandother
Governmentagencies.
5. CompletingtheimpactanalysisforGSTandinitiatingstepstoalignexistingtax
systemsatCenterandall StatesforGST. Thiswouldincludechangestobusiness
andITinfrastructure. Timelyfinancial approvalsandprocurementswouldalsobe
critical.
REPORTOFTHETECHNICALADVISORYGROUPFORUNIQUEPROJECTS 59
GOODSANDSERVICESTAX
Figure11.2: GSTsolutionarchitecture: funds flow
State 1
State 2
State n
RBI
Taxpayers
Centre
Banks
CGST funds
IGST funds SGST funds IGST funds
Deposit Taxes
State funds flow directly from taxpayers to the states
Centre funds flow directly from taxpayers to centre
Common GST Portal
Inter-state settlement Information 
6. EvaluationofPilotProjectresultinginiterativereviewofprocesses/ITimplemen-
tation.
7. FinalisationofdetailedprojectreportforactualimplementationofGST
8. AttainingclarityonNIUengagementandstructureofGSTN.
9. CreationofGSTNandformalisingtheinvolvementofNSDLinGSTimplementa-
tion.
10. FinalisationofIGSTlegalframeworkandbusinessprocess.
11. Implementingthestakeholderoutreachprogram
12. ScalinguptoGSTimplementation:
(a) Administrationandorganisationalrestructuring
(b) Trainingandtestingofapplicationsbytaxpayersandalltaxauthorities
TheGroupnotesthattheCBEChassetupdatacenterstoruncentralizedapplica-
tionsforCentral Excise, ServiceTaxandCustomspurposes. Withtheimplementationof
GST, theseandotherfacilitiesshouldbeleveragedtotheextentpossible. Anin-depth
study(eitherbyanin-houseteamorbyaconsultant)ofthereusabilityoftheexisting
ACESprojectcomponentsshouldbeundertakenandnecessarystepsshouldbeinitiated
torefashionthesameandintegrateitwiththeGSTsolution.
60 REPORTOFTHETECHNICALADVISORYGROUPFORUNIQUEPROJECTS
12
Tax Information Network
12.1. Introduction
Successful tax administration is about making tax compliance painless and tax evasion
painful. In order to modernize the systemic processes of tax administration, the Task
Force on Direct Taxes, set up by Government of India under the Chairmanship of
Dr. Vijay Kelkar, recommended in 2002 establishment of an electronic national Tax
Information Network (TIN). Today, this network integrates primary information of tax
payments made in designated banks, Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) Returns and
information on high value transactions through Annual Information Returns (AIR) into
a central database, which gives a 360 degree view of the taxpayer.
Income Tax Department (ITD) established TIN in 2003 through NSDL as a Managed
Services Provider model providing the following services:
1. To receive information relating to tax payments coming from banks and enable
necessary reconciliations between ITD, banks and accounting agencies in the
Government of India
2. To receive TDS returns, digitize the same and enable reconciliation of information
in these returns with the payment details received from the banks
3. To collate Information relating to TDS and compile Permanent Account Number
(PAN) ledgers reflecting TDS and payment details for each of the taxpayer entities
4. To receive, compile and collate information relating to high value financial
transactions coming through Annual Information Returns (AIR)
TIN has helped ITD to ensure that tax credit is given to a taxpayer only against tax
reported to Government account. Further, this revised process ow and automation has
enhanced convenience in record keeping relating to TDS returns, ling of returns with
TDS particulars and has reduced cost of compliance for the taxpayers. The system is
designed in a way that it is in the taxpayer’s interest to ensure a high level of data
quality and compliance. It is reported that the data quality in TIN has dramatically
improved over the years, and continues to improve. Thus, TIN has contributed to
reduction in leakage, increase in tax base, improvement in process efficiency and
transparency, enabled speedy reconciliation, facilitated faster transfer of tax collected to
Government and help in data mining to identify trends and making projections.
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 61
TAX INFORMATION NETWORK
12.2. Public policy challenges
12.2.1. Placement of tasks: NSDL as the MSP
The ITD decided to outsource the technology-centric part of tax collection and TDS data
as well as high value financial information on an MSP model to NSDL. The Department
could, therefore, focus on its core functions in the areas of policy making, policy
administration, tax assessment, and detection of tax evasion. NSDL was engaged for its
expertise in data collection and consolidation, rather than establishing the infrastructure
in-house. This placement of tasks is similar to that of an NIU, as described in Chapter 1.
Outcome based per-transaction pricing was agreed upon, enforced through strict SLAs.
Since it also provides for a reasonable return on investment (ROI) to the Service
Provider over the tenure of the contract, the Service provider has a continued interest in
successful running of the project. The ITD has developed an element of partnership
with the service provider, and thus is able to meet its requirement of additional optional
services based on changing or upcoming business needs. Automation of the processes
and services through TIN has reduced the cost of compliance for the taxpayers, resulting
into better voluntary compliance. At the same time, automation of the process of
collection and collation of information has resulted into a more effective deterrence
against tax evasion.
The Group takes note of this aspect and is of the view that to the extent possible
keeping in view the sensitivity of the data, such model could be replicated in other
aspects of ITD and other Government Departments, wherein technology driven data
capturing processes are entrusted to specialized entities who would enable the processes
with none or limited or pre-specified rights towards access and usage of data. Such
entities may act as enablers to strengthen the information flow to the concerned
departments.
12.2.2. Human Resources
The Directorate of Income Tax (Systems) has acted as the dedicated agency responsible
for defining the specifications, contracting with the service provider, getting the
project up and running in partnership with NSDL, monitoring and controlling the
implementation, and planning change management on the basis of feedback from
various stakeholders. An officer in the rank of Joint Secretary (known as Director in
the Directorate of Income Tax (Systems)) has played the role of the Mission Leader
and he is being assisted by in-house technical staff to supervise this project. Now
that the project has reached steady State, the Mission Leader has certain additional
responsibilities.
NSDL has separate heads of Department for systems and business operations who
are assisted by a team of functional and domain experts. The TIN team has separate
process and sub-process owners for various modules like TDS, OLTAS, PAN Ledger
Generation, data extraction etc. both in systems and operation areas. NSDL uses its
common pool of resources only for support functions like personnel, administration,
finance, and computer operation.
12.2.3. Contracting
Establishing TIN required initial capital investment, regular operating expenditure, and
periodic investment for capacity upgrade and modification to accommodate increase in
volume and changes in the Income Tax Laws. The Department realized that the normal
Government procurement may require lengthy procedure for administrative approval,
resulting in delays in implementation. Therefore, the Department developed a financial
model wherein the payment is made on the basis of usage of the system. To suit this
62 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
TAXINFORMATIONNETWORK
Figure12.1: Informationsecurity
DEDUCTOR TAX PAYER
ERACS
TIN - FC DIRECT
UPLOAD OLTAS (BANKS)
CPLGS
TIN VIEWS
DEDUCTOR VIEW
(RETURN STATUS) TAX PAYER VIEW  (26AS)
TDS/TC
S
RETUR
N
TAX
 TAX
 (T
DS/
TC
S)
RE
TU
RN
 CHA
LLAN


STAT
US
FILER
AI
R
ITD VIEW 
ITD Extract
CGA Extract
businessmodel, theDepartmentalsoevolvedaspecial Agreementthatdenedthe
expectedoutcomeforeachmodule, andriskmanagementpoliciesthatincludedthird
partyaudits,SLAsandexitmanagementpolicies.
12.2.4. Incubation
NSDLdidnotneedtobeincubated, sinceitwasalreadyoperatingthedepository
successfullywhentheTINagreementwassigned.
12.3. Technologychallenges
12.3.1. Solutionarchitecture
ThemodulesofTINasshowninFigure12.1areasfollows:
1. OLTAS(OnlineTaxAccountingSystem): Asystemforalltaxcollectingbanks
toconsolidatechallanlevelinformationintheTINcentralsystem
2. ERACS(ElectronicReturnAcceptanceandConsolidationSystem):Thiscon-
sistsofanonlinefacilityandanetworkoffacilitationcenterstoacceptTDS
returnsfromthedeductors’ AnnualInformationReportsfromspecifiedagencies.
3. CPLGS(Central PanLedgerGenerationSystem): Thisisthecentral system
maintainedbyNSDLwherethereturnsuploadedbyfilersandchallandetails
uploadedbythebanksareconsolidatedandmatched. Subsequently,thesesystems
generatethespecifiedextractsofchallandataforITDandtheOfficeofCGA
andthereturnandPANledgersofdataforITDinamannerthatwillenable
processingofreturnsandprovideinputforassessmentofIncomeTaxReturn.
Thissystemalsoprovidesadashboardtovariousstakeholdersforstatustracking,
monitoring,andcontrol.
12.3.2. Openness
TINhaspublishedaplaintextASCIIfileformatforsubmissionofreturnsbyfilersand
submissionofchallandatabybanks. TINalsoprovidedafreefilevalidationutilitythat
REPORTOFTHETECHNICALADVISORYGROUPFORUNIQUEPROJECTS 63
TAX INFORMATION NETWORK
users could use to verify the correctness of their files before uploading. This approach
has proved beneficial to all stakeholders:
1. This open data format helped deductors build functionality in their in-house
systems to generate a TDS return on their own.
2. There is no lock-in: of software, or service provider, or even the technology
platform for preparation of returns.
3. Many independent software providers built return preparation software in the
market, encouraging competition and innovation.
4. Existing financial accounting software packages seamlessly integrated return
preparation.
5. Banks also provided similar flexibility for upload of their challan details
12.3.3. Security
TIN has put extensive security infrastructure and policies in place to ensure that the
security and privacy of data is safeguarded. These are continuously reviewed and
upgraded to keep up with challenges in the environment. Periodic audits are conducted
by third party auditors, which include security audits.
12.3.4. Transparency and Privacy
The Department holds the personal and financial data of the taxpayers in a fiduciary
capacity and carries out a sovereign function of the State. Therefore, it needs to have
control on strategic assets including the software, hardware and the databases as well
as exclusive control over use and dissemination of data. It is recommended, therefore,
that TIN should adopt the best practices for transparency and privacy as discussed in
this report.
12.4. The way forward
12.4.1. TIN only a component in IT infrastructure of Income Tax Department
ITD is a large organisation dealing with tax matters of over 3 crore taxpayers. Its PAN
database now exceeds 10 crore records. It annually receives 2.75 crore tax challans, 3
crore returns of income, and 40 lakh TDS returns with information of over 29 crore
transactions, besides the AIRs. This is a large and recurring data volume growing every
year.
ITD handles its main IT-related functions through a National Data Center (NDC)
with its backup sites, connected to offices across the country through a VPN. These have
been set up on an outsourced model with three different service providers for Software
Solution, Network Service and System Integration. These Service Providers are mainly
paid against SLA based contracts, though ITD has also acquired ownership of critical
hardware of NDC.
TIN provides ITD’s major interface with its customers (taxpayers, TDS Deductors etc)
and constituents (Banks, AIR filers etc). Several other taxpayer service functionalities
have been set up by ITD using different methodologies and at different times. Thus,
hosting and maintenance of its website has been outsourced to two agencies on per
transaction basis - a RFP for appointment of a new agency is in progress. Helpdesk
support Aayakar Sampark Kendra has been outsourced to another agency. The facility
for e-filing of returns of income has been set up departmentally though a RFP for
appointment of an agency has been issued recently. A RFP for providing web-enabled
services is also in process.
64 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
TAX INFORMATION NETWORK
For data processing within the department, the ITD is following multiple approaches.
E-filed returns of income and paper returns of Karnataka region are being processed
through a Centralised Processing Center (CPC) at Bangalore set up recently on MSP
model. The number of these returns has risen to over 60 lakh but the remaining returns
of income (2.5 crore) and TDS returns are being processed departmentally on NDC. It is
proposed to set up two more CPCs at Pune and Manesar on MSP model. The risk
management system is run departmentally on NDC. Data mining of AIR and TDS returns
is being done regionally through a customised solution developed departmentally
and managed through yet another Service Provider. Computer Forensic labs at Delhi
and Mumbai are being run through C-DAC. A Record Management System, Workflow
Management System, Judicial Reference System and a Data Warehousing project have
been conceived but are yet to be set up. ITD proposes to set up a Special Purpose
Vehicle for its IT needs though its exact contours are to be worked out.
It is thus apparent that various IT-related initiatives have been developed or
are proposed on different models of implementation for historical reasons. TIN,
conceptualised way back in 2003, is only one component of ITD’s taxpayer interface.
Though it has several features of a NIU with consequent advantages, it is not exactly a
NIU in the sense contemplated in this report. The MoU between NSDL and ITD has
undergone two renewals and is to now expire in 2011.
The Group notes that the Department is at the crossroads of important strategic
decisions as the new Direct Taxes Code is to be operationalised from April 2012
requiring major changes in its application system - which itself was developed in late
1990s, its functional needs in terms of growth of revenues/ number of taxpayers/service
standards etc, and required deterrence levels are going to grow significantly over
next 5-7 years. The data volumes have grown exponentially. The existing contracts
with various service providers are nearing expiry. Although the existing IT related
instrumentalities have served the department’s needs admirably it may not be advisable
to continue with these diverse implementation methodologies.
Considering that its technology needs are large, dynamic, and sensitive from the
point of both, security and privacy, the Department clearly needs a dedicated and
efficient NIU type organization to set up, manage and run its IT-related infrastructure
on long term basis.
12.4.2. Recommendations
1. The Group is of the view that time has come for the department to have a fresh
and holistic look at its overall IT-related and functional needs over next 5-7
years and to devise a new and comprehensive IT plan keeping in mind the
recommendations in foregoing chapters of this report. In its Vision document 2020
the Department has proposed to meet the challenges of technology by formulating a
Strategic Technology Plan. The Group recommends that this may be done forthwith
along with a time bound roadmap for implementation, and all new initiatives
should be implemented only in accordance with this Plan.
2. As part of the Strategic Technology Plan ITD must clearly identify IT-related
activities and services that it can actively outsource to a NIU and those which
it must necessarily handle departmentally. Ideally ITD should directly handle
only matters involving policy making, quasi-judicial decision making, exception
handling, risk management and enforcement functions. The IT systems required
to assist and enable its functionaries in discharge of these should be set up,
managed, and run by a NIU.
3. There is a strong case for a separate well-capitalised and professionally run
NIU to handle the IT-related needs of ITD. This should be set up on priority
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 65
TAX INFORMATION NETWORK
and in accordance with the recommendations in the foregoing chapters. While
ITD should retain Board level strategic control, the NIU should have financial
autonomy and operational freedom and its affairs should be managed by an
eclectic mix of IT experts, management professionals and domain experts.
4. Such a NIU would necessarily need services of a few departmental officers as
domain experts at different levels to enable it to discharge its mandate. It should
therefore be possible for suitable departmental officers to be deputed to the NIU
for a defined period while retaining lien on their cadre posts. The relevant Rules
may be accordingly modified to enable deputation/secondment of a few officers
to the proposed NIU.
5. Action points 4 and 5 of ITD’s Vision 2020 document require it to resolve
multiplicity of platforms in favour of uniform holistic rule based application matrix
and to integrate all the elements of tax collection process through technology with
information seamlessly flowing to the users for informed decision making. This
Group entirely endorses these and recommends that these should be implemented
at the earliest.
6. The Ministry of Finance should develop the next generation Risk Information
Network to enhance the effectiveness and impact of tax collection using functional-
ities such as comprehensive taxpayer profiling, trend analysis, pattern recognition,
and data mining of the information gathered in ITD, GST, and Customs systems.
7. Simultaneously the Department needs to restructure and reorganise the Directorate
of Systems and re-define its role as the department’s single point interface with
the NIU so as to take full advantage of the NIU model. As part of this exercise it
may also re-determine the strength of its technical cadres and restructure the
same.
66 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
13
Expenditure Information Network
13.1. Introduction
In the mid 1980’s, the then Prime Minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi had estimated that of every
rupee spent on development only 15 paise reached the poor. Apart from administrative
inefficiencies, poor targeting, and high implementation costs, there is often a big hiatus
between the release of funds by the GoI and actual expenditures on the ground.
As a 2007 Planning Commission Working Paper 1 pointed out:
The connection between release of funds by the Central Government and
actual expenditures for physical inputs by the implementing agencies is
currently, very obscure.
The office of the Controller General of Accounts is already implementing the Central
Plan Scheme Monitoring System (CPSMS), which aims to establish a suitable on-line
Management Information System and Decision Support System for the Plan Schemes of
the GOI. A lot of work has been done in this area. However, moving forward, the vision
of the EIN as articulated in this report should be the next priority of the Government.
13.1.1. Challenges with expenditure tracking today
Today, the GoI’s budget documents do not report on actual expenditures at the level of
implementation. Data on expenditures can be found in the annual audited accounts of
the Government but these have nearly a two year time lag. Disaggregated expenditure
data is often only available up to the district level and not below. This makes it difficult
to perform data analysis for program evaluation. A well functioning system that makes
this information available in real-time will greatly improve transparency, policy-making,
and eventually lead to more effective governance.
The existing system of transfer and monitoring of funds has some limitations. Today,
measurement of plan schemes and programs is largely on the basis of outlays rather
than outcomes. Government follows hierarchical and multiple patterns for allocation
and release of funds to the implementing agencies and beneficiaries. It is difficult to
1
Virmani Arvind (2007), Planning for Results, Planning Commission Working Paper No. 1/207-PC.
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 67
EXPENDITUREINFORMATIONNETWORK
Figure13.1: EIN: Fromhierarchical tohub-and-spokereporting
From: Hierarchical  To: Hub & Spoke 
Centre
Centre
State 
Block
State Level Parallel
Bodies or SPV
District/Block-Level
 Parallel Bodies
Village Level
User Groups Village Level User Groups
Village
Panchayat
Central
Repository
Panchayat and
RDD
Zilla Parishad
Implementing
Agencies
Gram
Panchayat Panchayat Samiti
Beneficiaries
Monitoring
agencies
Block
Village
Panchayat Village Panchayat
tracktheflowoffundstoactualbeneficiaries,andequallydifficulttoevaluatethe
performanceofagenciesbasedonspendingandprojectimplementation.
Apparently, thereissignificantfloatoffundsinthesystem, thecostofwhichdueto
inefficientuseiseventuallybornebythetaxpayer.
13.1.2. SettingupanExpenditureInformationNetwork
Thereisaneedforeffectivemonitoring, evaluationandaccountingsystemforthefunds
thataredisbursedbytheCentralGovernmenttoStateGovernments,districtlevel
agenciesandotherimplementingagenciesasPlanExpenditure2.
TheestablishmentofanintegratedExpenditureInformationNetworkisastepin
thisdirection,andcanhelpachievethefollowingobjectives:
1. Monitoringscheme-wisereleaseoffundsandoutcomes
2. Helpinginbudgeting, planninganddecisionmakingbasedontheevaluationof
allplanschemes
3. Maintainingtime-seriesinformationrelatedtoeachimplementingagency, which
willenableinevaluatingperformance
4. Ensuringdisbursaloffundstointendedbeneficiaries
5. Ensuringtimelydisbursaloffunds
6. Reducingfloatoffundswithinthesystem
7. Up-to-dateandnearreal-timeinformationonutilizationoffunds
8. Monitoringofoutcomesuptothelastmile
9. Transparencyindisbursalandutilizationoffundsbymakinginformationavailable
inpublicdomainbywayofatransparencyportal
2
FinanceMinister’sBudgetspeechin2008–09(Paragraph115): http://indiabudget.nic.in/ub2008-09/
bs/speecha.htm;EconomicSurvey2007–08: http://indiabudget.nic.in/es2007-08/esmain.htm
68 REPORTOFTHETECHNICALADVISORYGROUPFORUNIQUEPROJECTS
EXPENDITUREINFORMATIONNETWORK
Figure13.2: EINsolutionarchitecture: Informationflow
Program 
Division
Agency
Transferring 
unit
Transfer
Sanction
 Type
T/E Agency Spending unit
Expenditure
DDO
PAO
Sanction Intimation
Update 
payment 
Details
Sanction
 Type
T/E
Sub-Agency Sub-Agency
Transfer
Expend
iture
 statem
ent
Cheque/ ECS credit
Expenditure
Central Repository
13.2. Publicpolicychallenges
TheGrouprecommendsthattheNIUframeworkasdescribedinChapter1befollowed.
AspectssuchasallocationoftasksbetweentheGovernmentandtheNIU, appointment
ofadedicatedMissionLeaderandadedicatedMissionExecutionTeam(Chapter2)
maybealongthelinesoftherecommendationscontainedinthisreport.
SomeofthechallengesanticipatedintheimplementationofEINaresimilarto
thosebeingfacedinthecontextofGST.TherelationshipbetweentheGovernment
andtheNIUmaybedefinedbyanAgreementasdescribedinChapter3. EINmaybe
incubatedaspertherecommendationsinChapter4ofthisreport. Learningsfrom
theexperienceofsettingupGSTNshouldbeadoptedinsettinguptheNIUforthe
implementationofEIN.
TheEINsolutionshouldprovidefortrackingofexpenditureatCentral, State, and
Locallevels. Therefore, thesolutionshouldensurebalancebetweenstandardisationof
featuresandautonomyofStatesasprovidedinChapter5. Appropriateincentives
shouldalsobedevisedforfullparticipationatalllevelsofGovernment.
13.3. Technologychallenges
ThesolutionarchitectureforEINshouldhavethefollowingfeatures:
1. Thehierarchical functions of allocation, authorization, disbursement, and
utilizationmaycontinueasatpresent,butthereportingmechanismshouldbe
basedonahubandspokemodel asshowninFigure13.1. Thisarrangementwill
helpincorrectandpromptcapturingofexpenditureinformation.
2. TheCentral ExpenditureRepository(CER)isakeyingredientofthedesignofthe
EIN. EINwillhandletheinformationflowthroughthisrepository(Figure13.2).
3. Theflowoffundswillbemanagedthroughthebankingsystem(Figure13.3).
BankscanmakeanelectronictransferincasetheaccountisavailableinaCBS
REPORTOFTHETECHNICALADVISORYGROUPFORUNIQUEPROJECTS 69
EXPENDITUREINFORMATIONNETWORK
Figure13.3: EINsolutionarchitecture: funds flow


      Fund transfer 
intimation
PAO Agency
Spending Unit
Govt. Bank
Spending Agency
Bank
Central Repository
MICR/IFSC?
Fu
nd
s
Estimate 
statement
N – Issue Cheque
Expenditure 
statement
Estimate 
   Intimation


Y - Fund transfer 
intimation
branch,orissueacheque. Bankswouldthenreportthedetailsofdisbursalsto
EINforreconciliationpurposes.
4. EINwilltrackallauthorizationsandforwardelectronicinstructionstobanks, so
thatfundsmoveonlyagainstactualexpendituretoserviceproviders.
5. PlanningCommission,Ministries,Departments,andProgramDivisionscanbe
linkedtoCERandshouldbeabletomonitortheoutcomes, utilizationandfund
statusthroughnearreal-timeavailabilityofinformationaboutallentitiesand
programs.
6. PayAndAccountsOffice(PAO)shouldbeabletoviewthepaymentauthorizations
markedinEINandreleasefundstospendingagencies.
7. ProgramDivisionsatvariousministriesshouldbeabletosetfirstlegoffundflow
transaction(allocationoffundstoparentagency). FundsdisbursedtoStates
shouldbemarkedasTransferandnotExpenditureifthefundsaremeantfor
furtherdistributiontoimplementingagencies.
8. AlltheagenciessuchasStatebodies,districtbodies,villagepanchayats,block
levelbodies, andbeneficiariesshouldhaveaccesstoEINwithappropriateaccess
controls. Theseagenciescanviewthefundssanctionedforthemandalsoupdate
thestatusofutilizationoffundsbythem.
9. Forgreatertransparency, citizensshouldalsohaveaccesstoatransparencyportal
andinformationfromthegroundcanbecrowd-sourced.
10. Allfinancialinformationmadepublicthroughatransparencyportalshouldbe
machine-readableandformat-neutral.
11. EINshouldenableeasydownloadofdataandreportstofacilitatetheevaluation
oftheimpactofpublicexpenditure.
13.4. Thewayforward
TheEINprojectissimilartotheGSTprojectinmanyways. Someoftheprocessestouch
moreagenciesandinvolvemoresteps. TheGrouprecommendsthatthemeasures
suggestedforGST(Section11.4)maybesuitablyadaptedfortheimplementationof
EIN.
70 REPORTOFTHETECHNICALADVISORYGROUPFORUNIQUEPROJECTS
14
National Treasury Management Agency
14.1. Introduction
In the 2007–08 Budget speech, the Honourable Minister of Finance announced that a
Debt Management Office would be set up1 . This drew on the recommendations of
the HPEC Report on Mumbai: An International Financial Centre2 . In light of these
developments, the Ministry of Finance formed an Internal Working Group to analyse
how best to move forward on establishing a Debt Management Office. The report of the
Internal Working Group on Debt Management — Establishing a National Treasury
Management Agency (WG) 3 — lays down a framework on setting up the NTMA. The
NTMA will manage debt for the Centre and States, with the overarching objectives of
meeting their financing needs, while minimising borrowing costs within acceptable
levels of risk.
14.2. Public policy challenges
The Group recommends following the NIU framework as described in Chapter 1
for NTMA. As recommended in the Report of the Internal Working Group on Debt
Management, NTMA should have a dedicated team to manage its operations. The
Group recommends that the HR structure for Government teams (consisting of a
Mission Leader and Mission Execution Team) as recommended in Chapter 2 should be
adopted for NTMA.
14.3. Technology challenges
The WG has recommended the solution architecture for NTMA, which is shown in
Figure 14.1. The Group commends this approach.
1
Finance Minister’s Budget speech in 2007–08: http://indiabudget.nic.in/ub2007- 08/bs/speecha.htm
2
Report of the High Powered Expert Committee on Making Mumbai an International Financial Centre:
http://finmin.nic.in/the ministry/dept eco affairs/capital market div/mifc/fullreport/execsummary.pdf
3
Establishing a National Treasury Management Agency: http://finmin.nic.in/reports/Report Internal
Working Group on Debt Management.pdf
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 71
NATIONALTREASURYMANAGEMENTAGENCY
Figure14.1: NTMAsolutionarchitecture
MANAGINGTHETRANSITION
Figure8.1: Internal andexternal interactionsof NTMA.
NTMA
Investors
Software
&
Database
Developers
Domestic & Foreign
Investors
Database
Market functions
Auction
Platform Depository Exchange
Website
Decision functions
Research
DivisionBudget
Domestic & Foreign
thewebsiteasaviewtothisdatabase,thatistightlywiredtothisdatabaseinrealtime,
ratherthanestablishingthewebsiteasaseparatefunction. Thewebsitewoulddrive
interactions withtheexternal world, includingdomesticandforeigninvestors. In
addition, NTMAwouldalsohaveadirect engagement withdomesticandforeign
investors. Thedatabaseandthewebsite, put together, constitutethepublicfaceof
NTMA.
Aseriesofoutsourcingarrangementswouldbesetupwithsoftwareanddatabase
developers,forbuildingthedatabaseandthetightlyintegratedwebsite.
Theresearchfunctionof NTMAwouldutilisethedatabasetohelpprovideana-
lytical inputsintothecoredecisionsofNTMA. ThebudgetdivisionofDEAwould, of
course,bethemainclientoftheNTMAandwouldhavedirectinteractions.
Thedatabasewouldbetightlylinkedtothemarketfacingfunctions. Here, out-
sourcingcontractswouldbesetupthroughwhichexternalauctionplatforms,deposi-
tories,exchanges,andothersecuritiesmarketinfrastructurewouldperformfunctions
fortheNTMA. Domesticandforeigninvestorswouldparticipateinthemarketscre-
atedinthisfashionbydirectlyaccessingthissecuritiesinfrastructure. NTMAwould
ESTABLISHINGANATIONALTREASURYMANAGEMENTAGENCY 91
TheWGhasastrongfocusonopenness,transparency,anddevelopingastrong
researchcapability. TheGrouprecommendsthatNTMAshouldalsoadoptthebest
practicesforsolutionarchitecture,openness,transparency,security,andprivacyas
describedinthisreport.
14.4. Thewayforward
TheWGprovidesdetailedstepsforincubation, whichspanlegal issues, settingupofIT
systems,andchangemanagementfortransferringthefunctionsfromRBItoNTMA.
TheGrouprecommendsthattheincubationframework,andcreationoftheplatform
describedintheWGreportmaybeadopted.
72 REPORTOFTHETECHNICALADVISORYGROUPFORUNIQUEPROJECTS
15
New Pension System
15.1. Introduction
In 2004, the Government of India introduced a new defined contribution pension
scheme known as the New Pension System (NPS), replacing the existing system of
defined benefit pensions. The NPS was envisioned to provide financial security to
its subscribers after retirement while ensuring that the costs of pensions account
administration, fund management charges and other expenses are low.
The Government established the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development
Authority (PFRDA), as the apex body to regulate and develop the pension sector in
India, to provide old age income security for all individuals, including those in the
unorganised sector.
PFRDA has put in place an institutional framework with a set of Intermediaries who
have experience in their respective areas of operations such as record keeping, fund
transfers, fund management, custodial services etc. The relationships between various
stakeholders are shown in Figure 15.1.
15.2. Public policy challenges
15.2.1. Placement of tasks: NSDL as the MSP
PFRDA is responsible for designing the institutional architecture, framing the policies
for functioning of NPS, selecting and regulating various intermediaries for record
keeping, fund management etc. The record keeping function is performed by NSDL,
who runs the Central Record keeping Agency (CRA). The current placement of tasks is
similar to that of an NIU as described in Chapter 1.
15.2.2. Human resources
The PFRDA provides for a Chairperson and not more than five members, of whom at
least three shall be whole-time members, to be appointed by the Central Government.
The other officials include two Executive Directors who have their team of officers
drawn from various Government departments. PFRDA is in the process of enhancing its
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 73
NEW PENSION SYSTEM
team by infusing talent from outside. The Group recommends infusing the team at
PFRDA with market professionals.
For each of the major intermediaries like CRA, Pension Fund Managers, etc., PFRDA
has prescribed establishment of exclusive business units to perform the functions related
to NPS. Each of these intermediaries is regulated by PFRDA and is assisted by process
owners for each key process.
15.2.3. Contracting
PFRDA engaged external consultants to assist in developing the RFP for the solution
architecture, system specifications and contracts. The contracts with intermediaries
prescribe the roles, responsibilities, charge structure, service level agreement, penalty
structures, exit management mechanisms,etc.
15.2.4. Incubation
Various intermediaries such as the CRA, Fund Managers etc were selected on the basis of
an open and transparent competitive bidding process managed by PFRDA. Subsequently,
PFRDA has been actively monitoring the establishment of each of these agencies.
The various stakeholders in NPS are as follows:
1. CRA: In the NPS architecture, the CRA forms the foundation on which the
long-term success and stability of NPS rests. CRA maintains complete records of
all clients with respect to their subscription, scheme choice, units allocation,
scanned copies of their documents etc.
2. Fund Managers: They handle the investment of the funds collected within the
contours of the prescribed guidelines.
3. Custodian: Custodian handles the back office functions for the fund managers.
4. Annuity Providers: They will provide monthly pay-outs to individuals after
retirement based on the accumulated pension wealth.
5. Trustee Bank: The Trustee Bank consolidates the funds uploaded by the sub-
scribers (directly or through intermediaries) and forwards them to the fund
managers, based on the input consolidated by CRA.
6. Entities for servicing the subscribers: In case of Government employees, the
accounts officers (Pay and Accounts Officer / CDDO for Central ministries or
treasury officers for State Government) handle the consolidation of subscriber
contribution , transfer of the funds to the trustee bank, and uploading the
subscriber contribution files to CRA. In case of subscribers in the unorganised
sector, the client servicing is handled by Points of Presence(PoPs) registered by
PFRDA.
15.2.5. Multiple levels of Government
Central Government has adopted the basic architecture designed by PFRDA for all
Central Government departments, with a few exceptions. State Governments have the
freedom to adopt the NPS architecture and the associated institutional infrastructure or
to establish their own mechanism and infrastructure, or to continue with their current
pension system.
All States joining the NPS are required to sign separate agreements with intermedi-
aries such as the CRA. However, PFRDA strives to ensure that the solution and contract
remains standard for all entities that participate in NPS.
74 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
NEWPENSIONSYSTEM
Figure15.1: NPSsolutionarchitecture
PFRDA
Subscriber
POP
PFM 1  
PFM 2  
PFM 3.. 


 N
P
S
C
A
N
 CRA
Custodian
NPS Trust
POP-SP
Trustee Bank
Annuity
Providers
Funds Flow
Information Flow
Over Internet
15.3. Technologychallenges
15.3.1. Solutionarchitecture
ThedetailedsolutionarchitectureforNPSisshowninFigure15.1. Thesalientfeatures
oftheNPSare:
1. NPShasalreadybeenoperationalisedfornewCentralGovernmentemployees
throughanotificationwitheffectfromJanuary1,2004.
2. EveryNPSsubscriberhasanindividualpensionaccountwithauniquePersonal
RetirementAccountNumber(PRAN),whichwillbeportableacrossjobsand
locations. NPSwill alsoofferseamlesstransferofaccumulationsincaseofchange
ofemploymentand/orlocation.
3. NPSoffersabasketofinvestmentchoicesandpensionfundmanagers. The
subscribercanchooseanyfundmanagerandschemeandhastheoptionof
switchingschemesandfundmanagers
4. ProvidesservicesforopeningofIndividual RetirementAccount(IRA), andissuing
PRANCard,I-PIN,andT-PINtoaccountholders,throughtheCRA.
5. OffersTier-I(pension, non-withdrawable)andTier-II(withdrawable)accounts.
6. Implementationframeworkallowsacombinationofretailers, pensionfundsand
multiplerecordkeepers.
7. Usesexistingnetworkofbankbranchesandpostofficestocollectcontributions
anddeliverservicestocustomersacrossthecountry.
ThoughtheCRAsystemwasdevelopedonthebasisofastandardspecification
evolvedbyPFRDA, theoperationalisationofCRAservicestoCentral, Stateandall India
segmentsthrewupanumberofchallengesintermsofthewaydataismaintainedby
accountingofficesatvariousministries, issuesrelatedtodisciplineinhandlingpension
contributiondeductions,andqualityofthedatamaintainedbythem.
PFRDAandCRAhavebeenmakingcontinuousrefinementstothebasicsolution
andbusinessprocessestomeetthevaryingrequirementsonthebasisofthefeedback
REPORTOFTHETECHNICALADVISORYGROUPFORUNIQUEPROJECTS 75
NEW PENSION SYSTEM
received from the users. Some examples of these enhancements and improvements
include:
1. Facilitates easy adoption through registration of nodal offices and subscribers and
enabling them to commence the subscriber contribution quickly.
2. Multiple interface models to accommodate the requirements of various State
Governments and Central Autonomous Bodies (CAB) who have joined NPS.
3. Utilities for contribution processing to accommodate varying requirements relating
to fund transfer and interfacing models across organizations.
4. Enhanced features to help the various oversight bodies and to satisfy the special
requirements of various entities like Points of Presence (POP), States etc.
5. Exception handling in case of mismatch in Subscriber Contribution File and funds
transfer for streamlining process compliance by nodal offices.
6. System stabilization and exception handling in case of poor data quality.
7. Management reports and dashboards
8. Grievance management to analyse the grievance patterns and bring about systemic
improvements in CRA systems and processes
9. SMS alerts to IRA compliant subscribers
15.4. The way forward
1. In order for a well-ordered and mature pension business to develop in the country,
there is a need for:
(a) All pension and provident fund streams to converge in the medium term;
(b) Costs to go down dramatically due to competition and economies of scale;
and
(c) Rule-based regulations need to give way to principles / risk-based supervision.
2. An enabling legal framework that provides the necessary impetus for NPS should
be provided.
3. The tax treatment of the NPS also needs to be rationalized to provide for, at least
equal treatment with other retirement products and providers.
4. There is an imminent need to create a certain level of awareness amongst the NPS
subscribers that will eventually empower them to make well informed investment
choices to protect and further their own interests.
5. As the broader mandate of the PFRDA is to regulate the pension sector in the
country, this may eventually necessitate the separation of the NPS administration,
including marketing and distribution strategies, from the PFRDA.
Recommendations
1. NPS needs to create a daily MIS with facts about number of subscribers, assets
under management, the breakdown of number of subscribers and assets under
management under various heads of Government, the number of switches made
by customers from one fund manager to another, the returns of the various
schemes of various pension fund managers, and summary statistics about the
returns obtained by NPS members. The daily release of this information base is
essential for policy analysis and the creation of self-correcting forces.
76 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
NEW PENSION SYSTEM
2. NPS should to create an audit mechanism whereby every year, for randomly
chosen customers in a statistically meaningful way, a comprehensive review is
undertaken about correctness of data, about whether contributions came in on
time, and about whether each member was notified about every contribution. The
results of this audit should be released into the public domain. This will yield a
regular check upon the quality of performance of NPS.
3. There is a need to avoid splitting the functionality of NPS across multiple
variants of the same product, since the existence of variants reduce portability for
customers and increase cost.
4. While significant strides in IT implementation have been undertaken in the
NPS, there is a need to further leverage recent technological innovations in
e-Governance, banking, and financial networks to develop greater efficient
mechanisms that leverage use of IT in an end-to-end manner – from the post
office interacting with the customer to the CRA to the fund manager and annuity
providers.
5. More specifically, initiatives may be taken in the following areas to develop a
comprehensive integrated pension administration system:
(a) Enabling linkages with HR and payroll systems of the Central and State
Governments to obtain subscriber contribution details, among other things.
(b) Revamping and automating all pension administration processes.
(c) Re-engineering in the context of the user departments, especially in areas
related to Government accounting formations
(d) Providing process linking between Government accounting systems and the
pensions administration system
(e) The implementation of these initiatives should be accompanied by extensive
skill enhancements, learning and change management efforts, in conjunction
with nationwide public awareness campaigns.
6. As the Aadhaar implementation becomes ubiquitous across the country, there is
a need to establish the platform for linking Aadhaar with the PRAN number,
which can enable Aadhaar-linked KYC for pension scheme enrollment. In this
aspect, the NPS should also explore opportunities for future integration with the
identification and authentications systems of the Unique Identification Authority
of India (UIDAI).
REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS 77
Part IV
Summary of recommendations
78
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PUBLIC POLICY CHALLENGES
16
Recommendations for public policy
challenges
16.1. The appropriate placement of tasks
1. For complex projects that depend on mission-critical IT systems, National
Information Utilities (NIU) working in the spirit of partnership with Government
may be put in place to handle all aspects of IT systems. They would participate in
high-level design, specification of requirements, proof-of-concept studies, while
strategic control would remain with Government. (1.1)
2. NIUs would be set up as private companies with a public purpose: profit-making,
but not profit maximizing. The NIUs should be financially independent and
empowered to take quick and efficient business decisions pertaining to attracting
and retaining talent, procurement, rapid response to business exigencies, adopting
new technologies etc. They should be able to get funding independently and have
a self-sustaining financial model. (1.3.1)
3. Strategic control can be achieved by having a strong dedicated team within
Government inter alia to drive policies, design a suitable solution architecture,
supervise execution, frame appropriate contracts, adopt outcome based pricing,
evolve strict service level agreements (SLA), and conduct independent audits.
(1.3.2)
4. An NIU should be structured as a company with limited liability and be subject to
sound corporate governance norms, such as those required for listed companies
though the company may not be listed. The board composition, accountability,
and transparency norms for NIUs should be the same as prescribed for listed
companies. (1.3.3)
5. Other characteristics of an NIU should, inter alia, be:
(a) ownership share of the Government in it should be at least 26%;
(b) total private ownership within it should be at least 51%;
(c) no single private entity should own more than 25% of the shares in an NIU;
(d) institutions that have a direct conflict of interest (e.g. IT companies) should
not be permitted to be shareholders;
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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PUBLIC POLICY CHALLENGES
(e) an NIU should not go for an initial public offering or list itself on public
exchanges;
(f) an NIU should be dispersed-shareholding corporations with a professional
management team;
(g) an NIU should preferably have a net worth of Rs.300 crore. (1.4)
6. NIUs, though set up initially as natural monopolies, would be obliged to provide
access to a competing NIU, when one emerges. (1.4.1)
7. For effective functioning, an NIU should be, self-financing, making reasonable
profits, and having sufficient net worth’ to meet exigencies. It should maintain
high professional standards and competitive practices, utmost transparency in its
operations, be willing to invest in technology for increasing efficiency, reach and
economies of scale. (1.4.1)
8. Government-NIU relationship may be defined by an Agreement, which covers
allocation of tasks and responsibilities between the Government and the NIU,
financials, and SLAs. (1.5)
9. In the early phases of a project, during incubation, both, the Government and the
NIU should have teams that are dedicated to the project, which will facilitate
smooth decision making. (1.5)
10. Business change is the driving force, and technology is an enabler. Therefore, a
Mission Strategy Document for the project that inter alia details the functions,
and capabilities of the IT System which would assist in bringing about the desired
business change, should be prepared. (1.5)
11. While the Department should recognize the capabilities and limitations of the
technology solution, the NIU should perceive its responsibility as extending
beyond merely meeting a technical or legal requirement under the Agreement
with Government. (1.5)
16.2. Human resource policies
1. Strong support from the top management within Government, leadership at
the level of project implementation, and ownership and commitment at various
operational levels are necessary concomitants of success of any project. The
concerned Department should put in place a high level body that will review
the progress of the project during its implementation and later evaluate the
realization of benefits and objectives on a periodic basis. (2.1)
2. Every project should have a dedicated Mission Leader within the Government
Department, of the rank of Joint or Additional Secretary, fully responsible for the
project. This person should possess necessary technical and managerial skills.
This post should be open to all eligible officers of the Government. The Mission
Leader should have the freedom to choose the Mission Execution Team from
within or outside the Government. (2.3.1)
3. The Mission Execution Team should be manned by personnel, who possess a
diverse set of skills including intimate familiarity with the Government processes,
specialisation in verticals such as technology, outreach, law, as well as the ability
to manage a large decentralized organization, among others. This team, including
the Mission Leader, should have adequate tenure (at least 5 years) for purposes of
continuity, so that institutional memory can be created and retained. (2.3.2)
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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PUBLIC POLICY CHALLENGES
4. Professionals may be hired into the Team by posting suitable officers to the project
from the same cadre; inducting officers on deputation from other departments at
suitable compensation under the Central Staffing Scheme; infusion of talent
from the private sector by way of lateral entry; hiring professional resources on
contract basis; by appointing consultants at market rates on contractual basis;
recruiting sabbaticals from industry, who continue to be employed by the parent
organization; recruiting volunteers who come from various walks of life through a
well-defined volunteer selection process; and recruiting students from various
colleges and universities as interns through a well-defined internship program.
(2.3.3)
5. Just as the Government team will have business specialists, and experts from
other domains, so should the NIU have a management team with the right domain
knowledge, and other essential expertise in areas such as technology, law, and
outreach. The NIU should also take on its staff, professionals from the Department,
who have the requisite business domain knowledge, so that the IT systems they
develop and implement is backed by people with relevant domain experience.
(2.4)
6. Government should set up a database of all IT projects implemented in the public
sector, containing comprehensive details of the individual projects and the key
personnel associated with the project. Centres of Expertise within the country
may be identified for providing assistance by way of project consultancy and
advanced training in the field of IT management. (2.5)
7. With a view to building capacity within the Departments embarking on large,
complex projects with mission-critical IT systems, the training curriculum
for the existing workforce of various services should include training on the
technical aspects of IT systems, project management and evaluation, procurement
management, governance issues, and change management. Mid-career programs
should also be designed in such a way that senior officers are not only able to
provide the required leadership but also coach and mentor junior managers.
In-service personnel, who already possess technical knowledge should be trained
in the latest technologies and in fields in which they like to specialize. (2.6)
8. As a measure to retain in-service staff deployed in IT functions they should be
provided with IT professional allowance on the lines of the training allowance at
the rate of 30% of their remuneration. (2.6)
9. The Performance Linked Increment Scheme as suggested by the Sixth Pay
Commission for Central Government employees, should be implemented along
with performance linked training programs in special skills. (2.6)
10. A scheme of non-monetary incentives such as public acknowledgement of their
contributions, certificates of outstanding performance etc. should be instituted
with a view to motivating both in-service officers and contracted personnel. (2.6)
11. Full opportunity should be provided for every individual to equip himself for
higher levels of responsibility through individual and group assignment and
training programs to ensure that his/her needs are satisfied. (2.6)
12. For creating a conducive work environment, end users should be provided
appropriate training and support and encouraged to make their own contribution
to the success and continuous improvement of the project outcomes. (2.7)
13. The method of performance appraisal has to be reconsidered, by redefining the
purpose and principles, conducting a job analysis, obtaining employee feedback,
reviewing standards of objectivity, conducting training for both managers and
employees and reviewing/evaluating the results of the system. Greater objectivity
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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PUBLIC POLICY CHALLENGES
and according appropriate weight to the overall contribution of the individual has
to be given due consideration. Merit should be given primacy over seniority
within a given band of eligible appointees. Adoption of performance management
techniques would be particularly relevant for appraising the performance of
in-service officers entrusted with the task of implementation of mission-critical
projects. (2.8)
16.3. Contracting
1. In general, the relationship between the supplier and the Government should
ensure that:
(a) the solutions proposed by the supplier focus on and meet the business needs
spelt out by the Department owning the project and not just the technical,
operational, or legal requirements;
(b) through the lifecycle of the project the supplier should produce realistic
plans, including timeframes, resources, technology, mode of delivery and
financials, and align the same with the business needs;
(c) the supplier should as far as possible maintains continuity in employing
trained Personnel;
(d) both should share in a timely manner all information about technical,
financial, and personnel problems, set up a mechanism for co-operation and
dialogue;
(e) both should agree and document change control processes, address risk
factors and avoid informal changes.
(f) both should recognize that estimates of price, timeframes should be realistic
and achievable. (3.1)
2. The Agreement between an NIU and the Government should clearly set out
all aspects relating to the scope of work, activities to be undertaken by NIU,
obligations of the Government and NIU, the financial arrangement, Service Level
Agreement, and business continuity plan upon exit. (3.2)
16.4. From startup to going concern
1. While a project itself may be housed within one of various available institutional
frameworks, an NIU that serves the project should necessarily follow the structure
as described in Chapter 1. In the case that a new NIU is being created to support
a particular project, it can be incubated within an existing NIU. Subsequently,
when the project achieves some level of maturity, the project team and project
assets (tangible and intangible) can be spun off. (4.3)
2. The project should prepare a Mission Strategy Document that describes the
project, the stakeholders, the broad legal framework, the solution architecture,
the nature of the platform, role of the ecosystem, and potential pricing. (4.4)
3. Best teams should be put in place within Government and within the NIU. (4.5)
4. Consultations with stakeholders e.g.multiple levels of Government, other Govern-
ment Departments, NIU, Banking system (if funds are involved), service providers,
and customers and end-users. (4.6)
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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PUBLIC POLICY CHALLENGES
5. A legal framework, with enabling policies may be necessary for a project to go
live. This may require passing a Bill, modifying subordinate regulation in centre
and State Acts, or in some cases, a constitutional amendment. A strong legal team
working with all stakeholders is a must for every project. (4.7)
6. The project should be rolled out as soon as possible, and iterated rapidly, rather
than waiting to roll out a perfect system. (4.8)
7. The Government’s role is to set policy, co-ordinate with other Departments, and
provide strategic direction, whereas the NIU focuses on execution and implemen-
tation.In the early stage, the Government agency / Department works alongside
the NIU and as the system starts falling into place, the role of Government changes
to:
(a) Conducting proof-of-concept studies
(b) Giving feedback on mis-features, bugs and additional specifications, and
(c) Setting up the institutional capability for scaling. (4.9)
8. Once the rollout is completed, the Government’s role shifts largely to that of a
customer. It should compute metrics of performance of the system in all respects
such as performance, cost, accuracy, and release these into the public domain.
Quarterly reviews of the performance of the system should be undertaken. (4.9)
16.5. Multiple levels of Government
1. IT projects that span multiple levels of Governments may be classified into two
types:
(a) Projects such as GST, NTMA, and EIN where the NIU aids the core function,
or aids carrying out a sovereign function of multiple levels of Government.
(b) Projects such as NPS, where the core function is carried out by a Central
agency, but co-operation among Government agencies is required for the
purposes of uniformity, standardization, interoperability to maintain levels of
service and drive economies of scale. (5.2)
2. A critical aspect of the success of such IT projects that the solution must be
incentive compatible across stakeholders. Common functions should be included
in a single application shared by all stakeholders. Such a single application, while
respecting the constitutional autonomy of all Governments involved, may be
deployed in a decentralized environment, but its development must necessarily be
centralized. (5.3)
3. The two activities, consensus building and solution design need not necessarily be
sequential. The basic design and the details of the implementation can be put in
place while policy details are being debated. (5.4)
4. Common minimum functionality can be built into a Common Portal, in such a
way that its basic functionality can be enhanced by local customizations such as
look and feel, local languages, and local policies, to mention a few. Such a design
allows for low cost, scale, interoperability, speed, simplicity, a uniform customer
experience, and portability of service. (5.4)
5. The following steps could be adopted for projects that span multiple levels of
Government:
(a) identification of all stakeholders;
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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PUBLIC POLICY CHALLENGES
(b) formation of an Empowered Committee of representatives drawn from every
stakeholder;
(c) appointment for all decision making, a smaller Empowered Group;
(d) creation of an NIU for the execution of the project. (5.5)
6. The project should release a Mission Strategy Document that guides the imple-
mentation. The process laid out for incubation of Government projects and NIUs
would foster a coalition for change early on in the life cycle of a project. (5.6)
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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGES
17
Recommendations for technology
challenges
17.1. Solution architecture
1. At the outset of a project, the long term IT strategy should be conceived and
published as part of the Mission Strategy Document. A functional system diagram
should be created that captures the following at a conceptual level:
(a) Role of multiple levels of Government
(b) Key business processes and workflows (information flow, funds flow, etc.)
(c) Integration with various stakeholders (6.2.1)
2. A structured change management process should be put in place, so that the
process is incremental. A principle of least surprise to the user, so that minimal
change in user behaviour is required, is a good principle to guide the change
management process. (6.2.2)
3. Changes in policy should be accompanied by the corresponding changes in IT
systems; the two should go hand-in-hand. (6.2.3)
4. Clean data should be ensured by standardisation of processes, matching and
verifying information in workflows, simple and well defined open data formats,
electronic payments and processing, instant feedback to customers, incentives for
compliance, and penalisation for non-compliance. It is through incentives that
data quality can be managed, rather than micromanagement of stakeholders.
(6.2.4)
5. Interoperability among multiple service providers is essential to foster competition
in the long run. This can only be achieved if interoperability is built into the
system architecture from the outset. (6.2.5)
6. The solution architecture should be designed as a Service Oriented Architecture
that allows stakeholders to integrate with the IT platform of the project. (6.2.6)
7. conceptualisation of a platform approach to service delivery entails that at
the front-end, the data entry and retrieval architecture must be real-time
and ubiquitous. In order to enable this, data connectivity at the front-end is
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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGES
critical. The Government should make it a top priority to provide connectivity
ubiquitously. Implementation of Aadhaar for proof of identity and address for
telecom connections across all stakeholders should be rolled out for greater
telecom inclusion. (6.3.1)
8. In order to minimise errors in identifying individuals (as beneficiaries under
various schemes) and firms and ensure foolproof ways for transactions to be
authenticated,
(a) Efforts should be dovetailed with the Aadhaar initiative for unique identifica-
tion of individuals
(b) PAN numbers should be used for unique identification of institutions. (6.3.2)
9. Access to bank accounts should be universal, so that Government payments can
be made seamlessly. Implementation of Aadhaar for proof of identity and address
for opening bank accounts across all stakeholders should be rolled out for greater
financial inclusion. (6.3.2)
10. An Aadhaar Payments Bridge should be designed by all stakeholders to ensure
seamless delivery of Government payments to beneficiaries. (6.3.2)
11. The Government should closely work with all stakeholders to define a uniform
banking interface for Government, so that inter-Government payments may be
tightly integrated with internal processes within Government. (6.3.2)
17.2. Openness
1. The use of open standards in the design and implementation of open standards is
highly desirable in IT systems. Multiple vendors provide competing solutions that
can be used interchangeably with open standards. (7.2)
2. All projects should be active producers and consumers of open data. (7.3)
3. Open source software should be adopted in projects as prudent. (7.4)
4. The Government in partnership with concerned stakeholders should set up an
open source foundation to host open source software released by Government
projects. (7.4.1)
17.3. Information security
1. As use of mission-critical IT systems becomes widespread within Government, the
growing connectivity between these information systems, the Internet and other
infrastructure, create opportunities for increasingly sophisticated attacks on such
systems. Such attacks may be made by individuals, non-state players, as well
as by hostile Nations. It is therefore essential to ensure that any disruptions of
critical Government information systems are contained and managed effectively
to minimize their impact. (8.1)
2. The security team for important projects must be best in class, and the security
solutions must always be cutting edge at all times. (8.1)
3. A Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) should be appointed who is empow-
ered and fully responsible for all aspects of information security: technology,
processes, and people. (8.2)
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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGES
4. Security must be part of the ethos of the organization, and can only be achieved
when the entire organization (right from senior management to field personnel)
is geared for it. This requires training and awareness on basic facts about
information security (strong passwords, how systems are hacked, denial-of-service
attacks, social engineering, de-mystifying jargon etc.) all levels. (8.2)
5. Various international standards and best practices can be customized to define a
comprehensive certification framework (8.2.1)
6. Technology reviews, process reviews and third party reviews should be conducted
on an ongoing basis. (8.2.2)
7. Security should be an integral of the solution architecture, and not an afterthought.
As part of the security architecture, the following ideas should be considered:
identity, access and entitlement management, host access management, data
encryption, data hashing, data classification and data loss prevention, transaction
auditing, and interaction security. (8.3)
8. Protections must be put in place to address the threat to security from insiders.
(8.4)
9. The security teams of individual projects should integrate with existing agencies
set up by the Government such as CERT-In1, and with other frameworks that
evolve over time. (8.6)
17.4. Accountability, transparency, and self-corrective forces
1. The architecture of an IT project must be designed keeping a transparency portal
in mind. A large IT project produces large volumes of data daily. If a transparency
portal is designed as an afterthought, the end result may be lack-lustre. (9.3)
2. The same software architecture for data warehousing, data mining and business
intelligence required within an IT project for policy support and analysis can also
support the operations required for a transparency portal. (9.3)
3. All the data should be made available in simple, well-defined, machine-readable
formats. (9.3)
4. A transparency portal leads to monitoring and feedback at various levels: within
the service provider, within Government, and by citizens at large. It is an essential
part of self-corrective forces that lead to greater accountability and transparency.
(9.4)
5. contact centre closes the feedback loop of self-corrective forces. It establishes
multiple channels of communication with all stakeholders, including end-users,
for purposes of gathering information and reporting grievances. It should provide
service in multiple languages, through multiple channels, and be integrated with
the solution architecture of the project. (9.5)
6. Enabling citizens and beneficiaries of public schemes to directly provide feedback
using web and mobile phone-based platforms is a powerful way of involving
citizens in improving public accountability. It unlocks the potential of collective
wisdom. (9.6)
17.5. Protection of the individual
1. The solution architecture of a project should be designed for data protection and
privacy from the ground up. (10.2)
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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGES
2. The privacy framework for a project should be defined early on, which translates
the legislation on privacy into implementable rules for IT systems. (10.2)
3. The design of the solution architecture should ensure that any Personal Identifiable
Information (PII) is stored safely, and access is carefully monitored. Stringent
penalties must be in place to address the issue of unauthorized access of personal
data by outside agencies as well as by personnel within the organization. Strict
protocols and processes must be in place to detect such access in order that they
are dealt with swiftly and in a deterrent manner. This is not only desirable from a
privacy perspective, but also from a security perspective. (10.2.1)
4. Anonymization of data is an important aspect of privacy. Data should be carefully
anonymized when released publicly, or when shared with other organizations that
do not require access to PII, as allowed within the data protection and privacy
framework. (10.2.2)
5. Careful thought should be given to anonymization, since naive approaches to de-
identifying data are prone to attacks that combine the data with other publicly
available information to re-identify individuals. (10.2.2)
6. Data retention and usage policies should be well-defined, especially for PII. In
case the legal framework of the project provides for it, an individual should be
able to access data stored in the IT system about themselves, after appropriate
authentication of their identity. (10.2.3)
7. The right balance between the individuals right to privacy and the larger public
interest should be achieved by the data protection framework. While personal
information relating to the individual must be strictly protected from unauthorized
access, there may be a need for Government agencies to access or share this
data for purposes of national security, economic offenses, tax evasion and other
specified circumstances. Hence, authorized sharing of information under specified
circumstances, ipso facto, should not be considered as a violation of an individuals
right to privacy. However, detailed processes, systems and guidelines need to be
put in place to ensure that authorized access and sharing is within the parameters
set by law. (10.3)
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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MINISTRY OF FINANCE PROJECTS
18
Recommendations for Ministry of Finance
projects
18.1. Goods and Services Tax
1. The recommendation of EG-IT for the setting up of an NIU Goods and Services
Tax Network (GSTN), for managing the IT systems for GST implementation,
including the Common GST Portal is endorsed. GSTN will:
(a) provide common infrastructure and services to Central and State Govern-
ments;
(b) ensure integration of the Common GST Portal with existing tax administration
systems of Central and State Governments;
(c) build efficient and convenient interfaces with tax payers and tax administra-
tors;
(d) facilitate, implement and set standards for providing common GST services
to the Central and State Governments;
(e) carry out research, study global best practices and provide training to the
stakeholders. (11.2.1.2)
2. The GSTN project may be incubated within NSDL and the preliminary work
of conducting a proof-of-concept is being undertaken by NSDL and it has been
planned to run a GST pilot with selected State Governments participating in it
along with the CBEC. The infrastructure for the GSTN should be based on latest
technology and ring fenced, so that whenever the spin-off takes place, the GSTN
infrastructure is smoothly transferred to the proposed NIU being set up as GSTN.
(11.2.2)
3. The IT strategy document for GST prepared by the EG-IT, which defines the
contours of the IT implementation in respect of the GST Common Portal and
its interface with all stakeholders, could form the basis for taking forward the
implementation of GSTN. (11.2.2)
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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MINISTRY OF FINANCE PROJECTS
4. A dedicated Mission Leader and a dedicated Mission Execution Team should be
appointed for GST. An implementation team, comprising of officers drawn from
and some of the State Governments (pending the appointment of a full-fledged
Mission Team and during the pilot stage) should be set up at the earliest. This team
would work along with the teams that would be set up by NSDL for implementing
the project. The two teams should together initiate the implementation of the
GSTN including such as acquisition of necessary infrastructure, design and
development of the application, etc. (11.2.3)
5. The personnel selected to man the implementation team should be trained in the
tasks mentioned above. Hiring of talent on contract basis should also be explored
as necessary. This team should later be part of the Mission Execution Team. This
Team should include professionals with technology and legal expertise. (11.2.3)
6. The Agreement with NSDL should be drawn carefully and with clarity. It should
include aspects such as financials, responsibilities of the Government side and
NSDL at the incubation stage, acquisition of infrastructure, development of
application software, ownership of source code, spin-off to the NIU, and the
process of transfer of assets (both tangible and intangible). (11.2.4)
7. Though NSDL is assisting the Government in incubating the GSTN, once GSTN is
set up as an NIU, the latter may continue to procure services from NSDL in the
initial phases of GST implementation, as it considers necessary. (11.2.4)
8. The GSTN may, as and when it commences its full-fledged operations adopt a
business-outcome based, per-transaction pricing model. Even during the period
when NSDL is providing such services, a similar approach is recommended.
(11.2.4)
9. GSTN will develop and operate the Common GST Portal, which will have
common minimal functionality, but will be customizable and extensible by various
governments. (11.2.5)
10. GSTN will render the following services through the Common GST Portal:
(a) Dealer registration (including existing dealer master migration and issue of
PAN based registration number)
(b) Payment management including payment gateways and integration with
banking systems
(c) Return filing and processing
(d) Taxpayer management, including account management, notifications,
information, and status tracking
(e) Tax authority account and ledger Management
(f) Computation of settlement (including IGST settlement) between the Centre
and States
(g) Processing and reconciliation of import GST and integration with EDI
systems of Customs
(h) MIS including need based information and business intelligence
(i) Maintenance of interfaces between the Common GST Portal and tax adminis-
tration systems
(j) Provide training to stakeholders (11.2.5)
11. The CBEC and State Governments may design and develop their own applications
to meet requirements for effective tax administration such as audit, intelligence
gathering. (11.2.5)
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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MINISTRY OF FINANCE PROJECTS
12. The Common GST Portal is a pass-through device for information, while enhancing
it with intelligence to plug leakages. It would also act as a tax booster, matching
the input tax credits in the returns to detect tax evasion. It can also integrate with
various other systems at MCA and CBDT for verification of PAN or other corporate
information and perform data mining and pattern detection to detect tax fraud. It
would send this information as alerts and reports to the respective tax authorities.
It would also compute inter-State settlement, netting IGST across States. (11.3.1)
13. The following important milestones that would facilitate timely implementation
should be kept in view:
(a) Finalisation of business processes of registrations, returns, and payments
(b) Commencement of GST pilot project by NSDL with identified States and
Centre.
(c) NSDL to set up core functionalities of common portal in pilot and provide APIs
for all stakeholders. Limited testing of APIs by participating stakeholders.
(d) Engaging with participating entities for pilot including dealers, banks and
other Government agencies.
(e) Completing the impact analysis for GST and initiating steps to align existing
tax systems at the Centre and all States for GST. This would include
changes to business and IT infrastructure. Timely financial approvals and
procurements would also be critical.
(f) Evaluation of Pilot Project resulting in iterative review of processes and IT
implementation.
(g) Finalisation of detailed project report for actual implementation of GST
(h) Attaining clarity on NIU engagement and structure of GSTN.
(i) Creation of GSTN and formalising the involvement of NSDL in GST imple-
mentation.
(j) Finalisation of IGST legal framework and business process.
(k) Implementing the stakeholder outreach program
(l) Scaling up to GST implementation with administration and organisational
restructuring, and training and testing of applications by tax payers and all
tax authorities (11.4)
14. The CBEC has set up data centers to run centralized applications for Central
Excise, Service Tax and Customs purposes. With the implementation of GST, these
and other facilities should be leveraged to the extent possible. An in-depth study
(either by an in-house team or by a consultant) of the reusability of the existing
ACES project components should be undertaken and necessary steps should be
initiated to refashion the same and integrate it with the GST solution. (11.4)
18.2. Tax Information Network
1. The department is at the crossroads of important strategic decisions as the new
Direct Taxes Code is to be operationalized from April 2012, requiring major
changes in its application system. Although the existing IT related instrumentalities
have served the departments needs admirably it may not be advisable to continue
with these diverse implementation methodologies. (12.4.1)
2. Considering that its technology needs are large, dynamic, and sensitive from the
point of both, security and privacy, the Department clearly needs a dedicated
and efficient NIU type organization to set up, manage and run its IT-related
infrastructure on long term basis. (12.4.1)
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3. The IT Department should prepare a Mission Strategy Document forthwith along
with a time bound roadmap for implementation, and all new initiatives should be
implemented only in accordance with this Plan. (12.4.2)
4. As part of the preparation of the Mission Strategy Document,the Department must
clearly identify IT-related activities and services that it can actively outsource to
an NIU and those which it must necessarily handle departmentally. (12.4.2)
5. ITD should directly handle only matters involving policy making, quasi-judicial
decision making, exception handling, risk management and enforcement functions.
The IT systems required to assist and enable its functionaries in discharge of these
should be set up, managed, and run by an NIU. (12.4.2)
6. There is a strong case for a separate well-capitalised and professionally run
NIU to handle the IT-related needs of ITD. This should be set up on priority
and in accordance with the recommendations in the foregoing chapters. While
ITD should retain Board level strategic control, the NIU should have financial
autonomy and operational freedom and its affairs. (12.4.2)
7. Such an NIU would necessarily need services of a few departmental officers as
domain experts at different levels to enable it to discharge its mandate. It should
therefore be possible for suitable departmental officers to be deputed to the NIU
for a defined period while retaining lien on their cadre posts. The relevant Rules
may be accordingly modified to enable deputation/secondment of a few officers
to the proposed NIU. (12.4.2)
8. The multiplicity of platforms should be replaced by a uniform, holistic, rule-based
application matrix so as to integrate all the elements of tax collection process
through technology with information seamlessly flowing to the users for informed
decision making. (12.4.2)
9. The Ministry of Finance should develop the next generation Risk Information
Network to enhance the effectiveness and impact of tax collection using func-
tionalities such as comprehensive taxpayer profiling, trend analysis, pattern
recognition, and data mining of the information gathered in IT Department, GST,
and Customs systems. (12.4.2)
10. Simultaneously, the IT Department needs to restructure and reorganise the
Directorate of Systems and re-define its role as the department’s single point
interface with the NIU so as to take full advantage of the NIU model. As part of
this exercise, it may also re-determine the strength of its technical cadres and
restructure the same. (12.4.2)
18.3. Expenditure Information Network
1. The establishment of an integrated Expenditure Information Network can help
achieve the following objectives:
(a) monitoring scheme-wise release of funds and outcomes;
(b) helping in budgeting, planning and decision making based on the evaluation
of all plan schemes;
(c) maintaining time-series information related to each implementing agency,
which will enable in evaluating performance;
(d) ensuring disbursal of funds to intended beneficiaries;
(e) ensuring timely disbursal of funds;
(f) reducing float of funds within the system;
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(g) up-to-date and near real-time information on utilization of funds;
(h) monitoring of outcomes up to the last mile; and
(i) transparency in disbursal and utilization of funds by making information
available in public domain by way of a transparency portal.(13.1.2)
2. The NIU framework should be followed in setting up the EIN. Aspects such as
allocation of tasks between the Government and the NIU, appointment of a
dedicated Mission Leader and a dedicated Mission Execution Team may be along
the lines of the recommendations contained in this report. (13.2)
3. The relationship between the Government and the NIU may be defined by an
Agreement as described in this report.
4. EIN may be incubated as per the recommendations in Chapter 4 of this report.
Lessons from the experience of setting up GSTN should be adopted in setting up
the NIU for the implementation of EIN. (13.2)
5. The EIN solution should ensure balance between standardisation of features and
autonomy of States
6. Appropriate incentives should also be devised for full participation at all levels of
Government. (13.2)
7. The Central Expenditure Repository (CER) will handle the information flow. The
flow of funds will be managed through the banking system. EIN will track all
authorizations and forward electronic instructions to banks, sothat funds move
only against actual expenditure to service providers. (13.3)
8. Planning Commission, Ministries, Departments, and Program Divisions can be
linked to CER and should be able to monitor the outcomes, utilization and fund
status through near real-time availability of information about all entities and
programs. (13.3)
9. All the agencies such as State bodies, district bodies, village panchayats, block
level bodies, and beneficiaries should have access to EIN with appropriate access
controls. These agencies can view the funds sanctioned for them and also update
the status of utilization of funds by them. (13.3)
10. For greater transparency, citizens should also have access to a transparency portal
and information from the ground can be crowd-sourced. (13.3)
11. All financial information made public through a transparency portal should be
machine-readable and format-neutral. (13.3)
12. The EIN project is similar to the GST project in many ways. Some of the processes
touch more agencies and involve more steps. The Group recommends that the
measures suggested for GST may be suitably adapted for the implementation of
EIN. (13.3)
18.4. National Treasury Management Agency
1. The NIU framework as described in this report is recommended for the adminis-
tration of NTMA. (14.2)
2. As recommended in the Report of the Internal Working Group on Debt Manage-
ment, NTMA should have a dedicated team to manage its operations. The HR
structure for Government teams (consisting of aMission Leader and Mission
Execution Team) as recommended in this report should be adopted for NTMA.
(14.2)
94 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MINISTRY OF FINANCE PROJECTS
3. The WG has recommended a solution architecture for NTMA, which may be
adopted. (14.3)
4. The WG has also provided detailed steps for incubation, which span legal issues,
setting up of IT systems, and change management for transferring the functions
from RBI to NTMA. The incubation framework, and creation of the platform
described in the WG report may be adopted. (14.3)
18.5. New Pension System
1. In order for a well-ordered and mature pension business to develop in the country,
(a) All pension and provident fund streams should converge in the medium
term;
(b) Costs to go down dramatically due to competition and economies of scale;
and
(c) Rule-based regulations need to give way to principles / risk-based supervision.
(15.4)
2. An enabling legal framework that provides the necessary impetus for NPS should
be provided. (15.4)
3. The tax treatment of the NPS also needs to be rationalized to provide for, at least
equal treatment with other retirement products and providers. (15.4)
4. There is an imminent need to create a certain level of awareness amongst the NPS
subscribers that will eventually empower them to make well informed investment
choices to protect and further their own interests. (15.4)
5. As the broader mandate of the PFRDA is to regulate the pension sector in the
country, this may eventually necessitate the separation of the NPS administration,
including marketing and distribution strategies, from the PFRDA. (15.4)
6. NPS should to create a daily MIS with facts about number of subscribers, assets
under management, the breakdown of number of subscribers and assets under
management under various heads of Government, the number of switches made
by customers from one fund manager to another, the returns of the various
schemes of various pension fund managers, and summary statistics about the
returns obtained by NPS members. The daily release of this information base is
essential for policy analysis and the creation of self-correcting forces.(15.4)
7. NPS needs to create an audit mechanism whereby every year, for randomly chosen
customers in a statistically meaningful way, a comprehensive review is undertaken
about correctness of data, about whether contributions came in on time, and
about whether each member was notified about every contribution. The results of
this audit should be released into the public domain. This will yield a regular
check upon the quality of performance of NPS. (15.4)
8. There is a need to avoid splitting the functionality of NPS across multiple
variants of the same product, since the existence of variants reduce portability for
customers and increase cost. (15.4)
9. While significant strides in IT implementation have been undertaken in the
NPS, there is a need to further leverage recent technological innovations in
e-Governance, banking, and financial networks to develop greater efficient
mechanisms that leverage use of IT in an end-to-end manner (15.4)
10. More specifically, initiatives may be taken in the following areas to develop a
comprehensive integrated pension administration system:
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(a) Enabling linkages with HR and payroll systems of the Central and State
Governments to obtain subscriber contribution details, among other things
(b) Revamping and automating all pension administration processes
(c) Re-engineering in the context of the user departments, especially in areas
related to Government accounting formations
(d) Providing process linking between Government accounting systems and the
pensions administration system
(e) The implementation of these initiatives should be accompanied by extensive
skill enhancements, learning and change management efforts, in conjunction
with nationwide public awareness campaigns. (15.4)
11. As the Aadhaar implementation becomes ubiquitous across the country, there is a
need to establish the platform for linking the Aadhaar with the PRAN number,
which can enable Aadhaar-linked KYC for pension scheme enrollment. In this
aspect, the NPS should also explore opportunities for future integration with the
identification and authentications systems of the Unique Identification Authority
of India (UIDAI). (15.4)
96 REPORT OF THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP FOR UNIQUE PROJECTS