India Post selects Ricoh India to supply hardware for modernization programme

Contract pegged at Rs 1370 cr; Ricoh to source hardware from local partner

Ricoh India, a subsidiary of Japanese imaging and electronics company Ricoh on Tuesday said that it has been selected by India Post to supply hardware solutions as a part of the latter's modernization initiative. As a part of the Rs 1370 crore contract, Ricoh India, along with its other consortium partner state-owned Telecommunications Consultants India (TCIL), would be responsible for supply, installation and maintenance services of hardware, peripheral devices and operating system for around 129,000 post office across the country.

Manoj Kumar, Executive Vice President and CEO of Ricoh India said the company would source the hardware components including the handheld devices from its local alliance partner, Visiontek. According to its website, a Hyderabad-based Visiontek is a manufacturer of various customer premises telecom terminal equipment targeting different sectors.

India Post's ambitious technology up-gradation project aims at providing last-mile connectivity through rural post offices by enabling its postal staff with hand-held devices or micro-ATMs. However, the project started during the previous UPA government regime at the Centre has seen inordinate delays after Sai Infosystems, a Hyderabad-based company to whom the hardware contract was originally awarded, went absconded last year due to huge accumulated debts.

"Ricoh India strives for excellence in all areas of its business and has been recognized for outstanding products and customer service, with an established network of service and support infrastructure across India. We are confident of delivering the best value to Department of Posts and ensure seamless integration of our products and solutions with the larger business objective of Department of Posts," Manoj Kumar, Executive Vice President and CEO of Ricoh India, said.

While TCS, India's largest IT services company is the core system integrator partner for the Department of Posts' IT modernization programme, Infosys is presently developing the software that will go to these handheld devices.

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