Indian National eGovernment PlanFocus on Service Delivery

Subhash BhatnagareGovernment Advisor, World Bank, Washington DC

Sbhatnagar@worldbank.org

Professor, Indian Institute of Management, AhmedabadSubhash@iimahd.ernet.in

Presentation Outline

• Why India is focusing on eGovernment?• Case study of multiple services through

integrated service centers in Andhra Pradesh• Learning from service delivery projects • Indian National eGovernment Plan and key

issues in implementation

Why India is Focusing on service delivery?

Existing delivery mechanisms are inefficient, ridden with corruption resulting in high costs for citizens and businesses

Few bottom up large scale e-delivery projects have delivered significant benefits to citizens, business

Projects scale up /replicate very slowly

India has a vibrant software industry and people expect that ICTsshould be deployed by the public sector

Political commitment to E-Government across parties-emphasized in the Common Minimum Program, endorsed by the Cabinet (May ‘04)

Presidential address to Parliament (June ‘04) “ ..E-Government will be promoted on a massive scale in areas of concern to the commonman..”

Fundamental Difference in Focus

• in developed countries is on building the middleware to enable direct access by citizens and connecting legacy systems to middleware.

• in India is primarily on building the back-ends and in parallel creating suitable middleware and community access points.

Successful e-delivery of Services

• Property Registration in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka– Covers 3-400 offices all over the states– 5.7 million documents, 3.6 million encumbrance certificates, 2 million market

valuation slips in AP– 2.2 million documents in Maharashtra and annual collection of Rs. 29 billion

• Issue of land titles in Karnataka– 18 million titles issued earning a fee of 270 million (51% loans; 14% verify

mutation;16%courts)– Small sample study quote reduction in corruption; Rs 700 million in bribes and

Rs 66 million in wages.

• eSeva center in Andhra Pradesh– Used by 1.5 million citizens in one city and 1.5 million in smaller towns– Collection of Rs 3 billion per month

How Do Delivery Channels Differ?

• Self use versus assisted by staff• 24X7 operation versus restricted days and timings• Services offered by single agency versus multiple

agencies from different levels of Government• Online delivery of one/few steps in a service versus

the entire tasks or several steps done in one go• Services handled--Receipts/Payout/Documents• Location of access point• Access equipment: PC, Cell Phone, ATM, Phone

Two Ways of Integrated Delivery

• Conveniently located Community Service Centers– Assisted counters manned by public/private agencies– Services from single/ multiple agencies under one roof: payment,

licenses, certificates– Larger time window 10X 7 but not 24X7– Difficult to deliver complete service from all departments-simple

services like bill payments and issue of certificates are popular. • Self Service through a Portal one stop shop

– 24X7, multiple agencies, partial service (submit applications)– Back end computerization and Integration needed for data sharing– High internet penetration; willingness and ability of citizen to use– Security and mutual trust (builds with successful outcome) – Usage builds up gradually. Adoption rate has to be driven.

A Case Study on eSevaCenters were established by AP Government in partnership

with private sector to deliver on-line services, such as payments, issue of certificates, application for documents from different agencies of state, local, central government and private sector under one roof.

• Started with a pilot in 2000. Scaled to 8 centers and then 45 centers in Hyderabad by 2002, offering 136 services from14 state, 3 central and 9 private sector organizations.

• Replicated in 16 municipalities in the state with 230 eSevacenters and in 1000 rural kiosks

• Long term plans for extensive rural coverage offering 1,600 services and 10 million transactions per month

Traditional Bill Collection versus eSeva

Web Apln Servers

….

ICSC location-1 ICSC location- 18

2nd Tier2nd Tier

1st Tier1st Tier

eSeva NETWORK

( ICSC Locations )

Router Router

DB Servers

Leased LineLeased Line

ISDNISDN

Router Pool

ISDN

Leased Line

Kiosk Kiosk

Card printer

DOT Exchange

INTERNETFirewallLeased Line

LAN-1ISDN

LAN 2

NMS

LAN 3

CentralSite Web

Server

. . . . . . . . . . . . 3rd Tier3rd Tier

Departmental Servers

( Govt.. Depart. )

SnS1

Counter TerminalsWith Printers

Counter TerminalsWith Printers

….

eSeva: Benefits to Citizens • Many state, central and local govt. services under one roof• Different ways of payment are possible- by credit cards on

the Internet and eSeva counters, ePayment by direct debit mechanism, one check for several bills

• Location convenience with network of different channels– 150 services at 45 eSeva centers in Hyderabad; 200 in

other towns– eSeva counters in banks – assisted by operator– AP online kiosks – assisted by operator– Access portal directly via Internet, ATM

• Improved service because of competition amongst channels• Good ambience, courteous service by private contract

operators, managed queues through electronic tokens

Performance of eSeva since Inception

YearNo.of

transactions

Value of Collections Rs

10 million2001 289087 33.432002 4487646 1004.942003 10490666 3869.122004 16480500 5466.86

Total 31747899 10374.35

Why PPPs in eGovernment?“longer-term contracts between public contracting authority

and private provider for delivery of specified outputs” (typically combining investment and service provision)

• Electronic processing enables easy hand shake amongst partners

• Different models: outsourcing discreet tasks, BOO,BOOT• Risk transfer to private sector

– Commercial know-how and managerial skills– Best-practice technologies and innovation

• Incentive for replication in other contexts• Enhances government accountability and performance• Entrepreneurship and local enterprise promotion• Reduced need for public sector borrowing

Issues in Public Private Partnership• Choice of model for shared investments and operating

expenses and time frame for contract.• Defining a formula for shared revenues for a fair contract.

Estimating volume growth is tricky. Many sources of revenue– Charge to the client (utility,service provider)– Charge citizens– Generate from advertisements-building, transaction slips

• Legal and policy framework that encourages PPP• Authentication/security of Private Partner transactions• Design of Service Level Contract (obligations on all

partners) and ability to enforce• PPP model can create another type of monopoly.

Learning on Critical Success Factors• Strong political and administrative leadership • Defining an appropriate scope and scale and clearly

identified goals and benefits• Detailed project management and significant process

reengineering required• Start small, scale up through stages, manage expectations • In-source analysis; outsource design, software development,

data preparation, training. Minimize customization by using established standards and protocols.

• Management of change and training are critical• Use Public Private Partnership• eGovernment is a good entry point but other reforms also to

be done. Management style to determine reform sequence

The National eGovernment Plan Framework

GOIAgencies

StateAgencies

Service Providers

eIndiaPortal

MiddlewareCommunicationInfrastructure

Central Data Banks

Gateways

Security Infrastructure

Front-end interface

Citizen Portal

E-biz

Etc.

Integrated Services Enabled

Home PCs

IntegratedCitizen

Service Centres

Mobile

Kiosks

DTV

Citizens

Businesses

GOIPortals

StatePortals

<< Back

Networked India

NEGP Approach

• Focus on Public Service Delivery & Outcomes– Identify services to be targeted, Prioritize Services (Mission)– Identify measurable service goals (Outcomes)– Process Re-engineering and change management to redefine the way government delivers services

• Service delivery through Common Service Centres• Centralized Initiative, Decentralized Implementation• Standardize, Localize & Replicate • Project Implementation in Mission Mode• Effective Public Private Partnership is crucial• Incorporation of suitable incentives to encourage adoption

Governments need an “innovation agenda” that involves IT and not an “IT Agenda” … Mckinsey Global Institute

Mission Mode Projects• Central Agencies

– Income Tax, Passport, Visa, Immigration, Department of Company Affairs, Insurance, Central Excise, Pensions

• State Level Agencies– Land Records, Road Transport, Property Registration,

Agriculture, Treasuries, Commercial Taxes, Police, Employment Exchanges

• Local Government– Municipalities, Gram Panchayats

• Integrated Projects– EDI (E-Commerce), E-Biz, E-Procurement, India Portal, National

Citizen ID

Implementation Strategy• Visible and full support of political leadership• Empowered Committees for speedy sanctions and

implementation. Apex Committee headed by Cabinet Secretary to drive and coordinate

• All services supported by 3 infrastructure pillars to facilitate web-enabled Anytime, Anywhere access – Connectivity: State Wide Area Networks (SWANs)/NICNET– National Data Bank/ State Data Centres ( SDCs)– Common Service Centres (CSCs) primary mode of delivery

• Standardization of core policies & practices to ensure– Integration of services and interaction between applications

• Candidate list of projects: 25 Mission Mode Projects identified so far

Major Activities Proposed in the National EG Programme

Integrated Services 300 (2%)

Core Policies100 (1%)

Core Infrastructure1,200 (10%)

Support Infra600 (5%)

R & D100(1%)

Awareness & Assessment

280 (2%)

Amounts in Rs. 10 million

TOTAL OUTLAY12,400

HRD & Training550 (4%)

Organization Structures100 (1%)

Technical Assistance

100 (1%)

(4 YEAR ACTION PLAN) Core Projects9,000 (73%)

Possible Structure of an Integrated Fund

e-Governance

National

Fund

U N D P

LOAN

TO

GOV.

Other Donors

LendingInstitns.

GRAN

T

LOAN

TO

PROJ

.GU

ARAN

TEE

$ 5mn. approved

$ 25mn. proposed

???G O I

Program Management

Structure

Project Development Project Implementation

Role of Department of Information Technology

• Assist Apex Committee to manage program• Serve as secretariat to Apex Committee• Address Standardization, Interoperability issues • Implement Pilots / Infrastructure projects • Augment capacity / provide technical support • Create suitable e-Governance Group to discharge above

functions• Take inputs from a broad-based Advisory Group

Major gap: Internal, institutional capacities

Conditions That Foster Reform

• Strong political driver and seasoned civil servant executor-In high risk projects (innovations) presence of both is ideal.

• Political support is required to end monopoly provision of services by departments and tackle vested interests

• Civic pressure plays a limited role in initiating the project. However, in preventing a roll back of reform civic pressure is critical.

• Media plays an important role in minimizing resistance from vested interests and also in motivating the staff.

• Enabling policy framework and legal environment that encourages civil servants to be entrepreneurial