TCS bags extension on 30 lakh defence personnel's pension processing deal

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Tuesday said it has bagged an extension of a Government of India contract on processing the pension for 30 lakh defence personnel.

The Tata Group company said it has been executing the contract since 2020, and its interventions have helped save Rs 250 crore annually by centralising the pension disbursement process and eliminating bank service charges.

It, however, did not disclose the value of the deal.

TCS has signed a three-year extension of its contract for SPARSH (System for Pension Administration, Raksha), a Government of India initiative to streamline pension distribution for over 30 lakh defence pensioners, according to a statement.

TCS will maintain the hardware and software of the programme for three years, and also deliver key updates to the system.

The company statement said over the years, it has been able to reduce pension processing timelines from 12 to 18 months to just 14 days, and do it within a week for first-time pension payments.

It has also helped implement the once contentious One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme, the statement said.

"TCS has enabled the processing time to reduce from six to eight months to just two weeks, allowing the disbursement of OROP to 1.8 million eligible pensioners in a record time of 15 days," it added.

The company is also in discussions with the Controller General of Defence Accounts to potentially develop a digital solution that would allow pensioners to make reverse payments in the event of overpayments, the statement said.

"By reducing processing times and implementing efficient digital solutions, we're helping ensure timely, transparent pension disbursement while setting new benchmarks in public service delivery," its president for growth markets and public services Girish Ramachandran said.

The SPARSH system has been a large-scale effort involving the digitisation of millions of records, dating back to 1914, and onboarding of over 30 lakh defence pensioners across the three branches of the armed forces.

The company has onboarded 50 organisations, 2,302 offices, and disbursed a total amount of over Rs 2,82,067 crore in pensions, benefiting both pensioners and the government, the statement said.

Meanwhile, the counter was trading at Rs 4352.75 on the BSE. This is a high of 0.87 per cent from the previous close of Rs 4315.10.