Wipro wins Punjab and Sind Bank's IT contract

By siliconindia   |    1 Comments
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Mumbai: Wipro succeeded to get Punjab and Sind Bank's core banking solution (CBS) project after Tech Mahindra voluntarily opted out of the contract. Currently, Punjab and Sind Bank is the only public sector bank that has not started the process of implementing CBS. GS Vedi, Chief Managing Director, Punjab and Sind Bank said, "We are in the process of finalizing the contract. We have appointed Wipro as system integrator, while Infosys will provide its software and Finacle for CBS." Previously, the bank had awarded 135 crore contract to Satyam Computer Services in September 2006 to implement CBS, which primarily allows customers to access their account from any branch of the bank. An official from the bank said that Satyam had failed to meet deadline twice - once in 2007 and subsequently in January 2008. In the first instance, when it missed the deadline, it agreed to pay the penalty. But when it missed the second deadline in 2008, it had gone bust which forced the bank to take a relook at the contract. Regarding opting out of the contract, Tech Mahindra officials said, "We reviewed the areas in which we work and core banking implementation for retail banking was not a priority area, so we opted out of it." The bank and Tech Mahindra had mutually agreed upon settlement. The bank had received special dispensation from Central Viligilence Commissioner (CVC) on appointing Wipro, without calling for fresh bidding. The bank had said that Wipro was selected as the second best bidder after Satyam and thus following the Satyam debacle, they should be allowed to appoint Wipro. The bank has about 900 branches, and in the first phase it is targeting to bring 500 branches on CBS platform. "It will take about a year to complete the first phase which will cover about 85 percent of our total business," said Vedi. The bank is also likely to launch pilot project before the end of this fiscal, which would involve 10 selected branches on CBS.