Lalu goes hi-tech: IT industry reacts to Budget

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Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad presented the Railway Budget 2008-2009 before the Parliament today.

Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad presented the Railway Budget 2008-2009 before the Parliament today - his last full Budget for this UPA Government.

The Budget addressed the need for strong and necessary online control of trains, which the Railway Minister said will happen in two years. This thrust on IT will benefit domestic software companies.

All trains will be linked via software communication by 2009. TCS, Wipro and Satyam are in foray for IT upgradation order, he said.

S Venkatramani, Vice-President and Head, India Geography at TCS, said, "Seizing the opportunity, I don’t think I can put a number to it at this point in time, but I think it is significant because of the large volumes involved and it could be a type of PPP model, a transaction-based pricing model for any of the operators who might want to take this challenge."

"I think it is an interesting proposition. But I have not seen the gist of the Budget. My reactions would be a lot more precise when I see the Budget," he adds.

On the whole, S Venkatramani reacted positively to the substantial outlays for upgrading the railways' current infrastructure. He said, "I think this whole emphasis on upgrading and improving the freight management system, I understand, is very significant in terms of earnings".

While in terms of passenger service delivery, talk of outsourcing the entire ticketing operations, is also a significant move.

Talking about the opportunity that could be provided by digitalizing the ticketing and other facilities of the Railways, Ranjan Tayal, Head - India, Satyam, said it could be anywhere between Rs 1,000-Rs 2,000 crore. He said they’ve been in discussion with the Railways and are looking at various opportunities now that the Railways are leveraging, synergizing and optimizing their entire IT infrastructure.

Tayal feels their order book will grow as the Railways have a couple of initiatives around porters, around how they manage their own employees and systems and yield management.

“I think they will trigger in someway, but pick up steam. It may not happen in one go, but I think these initiatives are getting launched in some sequence. Then, over a period of time they will look how they can synergize across them and create a platform enterprise-wise,” he explained.