TCS to advise Bhutan on PSUs

Tata Consultancy Services has been roped-in by the government of Bhutan to carry out a feasibility study for upgrading its five public sector units (PSUs).

The company had suggested the Bhutanese government development of an "Economic city", which could need an investment of up to Rs 10,000 crore, said Sudhir Ahluwalia, head global consulting practice India, global sales and delivery support, TCS, here in Kolkata recently.

The project is a part of Bhutan's effort to consolidate its assets and transform its PSUs into profit making bodies . The funding for the initial feasibility study, which is close to Rs 4.50 crore, would be provided by the government of India, he said. Out of this, around Rs 26 lakh would be for conducting the feasibility study for the Economic City.

A 19-member team from TCS will visit Geliphu and Phuntsholing areas of Bhutan next month for the feasibility study of the Economic City.

The study would be completed next five months. Simultaneously, core banking system would be implemented in some of branches of the Banks of Bhutan with help from the State Bank of India (SBI).

"As SBI has got a 20 per cent stake in the Bank of Bhutan, we have to see if we can use the SBI infrastructure to upgrade it," he said.

The five PSU's to be upgraded are, Bank of Bhutan, Bhutan Telecom, Bhutan Polytene, State Trading Corporation and Druk Air.

The investments in the Economic city would largely be dependent on Indian companies, because of the limited resources of Bhutan, which recently embraced democracy.

"Multiple companies have to be integrated for the project, and this will have a positive impact on the Indian side. For developing each acre in the Economic City, at least Rs 100-200 crore will be needed. Education, health, entertainment and agriculture would be the focus areas of the city.