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It is being hailed as the largest ever laptop procurement through a single tender in India, aimed at providing free laptops to 1 million college students in Tamil Nadu.
According to sources, nearly all major original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the country — including Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer, Asus, and Samsung — have already shown interest in the tender and have engaged in multiple rounds of discussions with the state government.
Key industry players such as Microsoft, Google, and Intel have also held talks with state authorities ahead of the tender process. The Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu issued a global tender on Friday, seeking to procure roughly 2 million laptops over a two-year period. The first phase of the tender, covering 1 million units, has now been floated after a go-ahead from Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin.
“This is the largest single tender for laptops in India so far, as the scale of procurement was much less in those cases. Similar projects were undertaken by various states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Pondicherry, and Uttar Pradesh in the past. However, those were done in several tranches,” said a government source aware of the development.
According to reports, the state is looking to procure laptops at a cost of ₹20,000 each, with a total budget of ₹2,000 crore — to be allotted in equal tranches over two years. The laptop specifications include any processor equal to or above Intel Core i3 or AMD Ryzen, with a minimum RAM of 8 gigabytes, a screen size of 14 inches or 15.6 inches, and a USB-C type port. Companies must commit around 100,000 laptops for the tenders to be valid, with a similar unit having a market price in the range of ₹30,000–35,000. The technical bids are expected to be opened by the end of June.
“We have held talks with almost all the OEMs in India, supply chain players, and various stakeholders too. We had four to five rounds of consultation with them. The list of players who had talks included Microsoft, Google, Intel, Dell, HP, Acer, Lenovo, among others,” the source said.
“Between 2011 and 2020, we had a similar procurement, and in that, all the major OEMs participated. We expect similar interest this year too,” he added.
“We will be opening the bids by the end of June. Then there will be technical evaluation and discussions with the bidders as well. Then the financial bids will be opened,” the official said.
Between 2012 and 2015, the Uttar Pradesh government had reportedly distributed 1.5 million laptops, making it one of the largest distribution schemes ever implemented by any government in the world at that point.
The Tamil Nadu government itself had a free laptop scheme for students in government-aided schools and colleges, which was carried out in six phases between 2011 and 2017. Though reports indicate around 3.8 million laptops were procured during that time, they were delivered in several tranches.
Another state that adopted the free laptop model was Andhra Pradesh, which had decided to provide laptops to students of classes 9–12 under the Amma Vodi and Vasathi Deevena schemes.
Tech boost
- Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu issued global tender to procure 1 million laptops
- State plans to supply 2 million laptops over 2 years to college students
- Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer, Asus, and Samsung engaged in talks
- Key stakeholders such as Microsoft, Google, and Intel held talks with state
- The state is looking to procure laptops at a cost of ₹20,000 each
