Indian Railways ERP Project will be the world’s Largest IT project: Suresh Prabhu

Indian Railways ERP Project will be the world’s Largest IT project: Suresh Prabhu 

Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister for Railways announced slew of initiatives taken by his ministry to revamp and modernize Indian Railways

‘Implementation of effective technological solutions can unlock the true potential of India’s transport & logistics sector’ was the underlying statement at the launch event of Association of MSMEs in Information Technology (AIM-IT) in the financial capital earlier today.

AIM-IT which is India’s first sectoral organisation for Medium, Small and Micro IT enterprises (MSMEs) was founded by well-known technocrat Mr Vinit Goenka in 2015. The association was set up with an aim of representing, advocating and promoting interests of IT-MSMEs to ensure economic and technological advancement of the country.

The event theme – ‘Challenges and Opportunities of Modernising Indian Railways through implementation of IT’ saw participation from all key stakeholders of the sector including, central & state govt ministers, bureaucrats, IT and logistic companies, start-ups, innovators, and policy makers. Riveting discussions were held on various important subjects such as, Role of MSME companies in Railways, Shaping the future of Smart of Railways, ‘Internet of Things and Indian Railways, and ‘Smart Cities’: Smarter Roads – Smarter Transport.

Addressing the audience, Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister for Railways announced slew of initiatives taken by his ministry to revamp and modernize Indian Railways. He remarked that the ERP project undertaken by Indian Railways is the largest such IT project undertaken by any country. Speaking on the need to support indigenous IT solutions, the honourable minister said, “The Rail Ministry has started a special fund of Rs 50 crore to support IT companies coming up with innovative solutions for Railways. We are looking for solutions in critical areas such as customer interface and also IT security. Cyber Security is of utmost importance to us”

While speaking on the importance of including IT-MSMEs in building and implementation of technology in infra projects by the Government, Mr Vinit Goenka, founder chairman of AIMIT said, “India is the fourth largest base for new businesses in the world and home to over 3,100 tech start-ups. It is time that Govt taps into these new, technology-driven companies to help India solve infrastructural issues which has been stunting its growth since Independence. Currently India is deprived of research and innovation due to irrational and biased policy strategies of large corporate houses and IT MNCs from the west who dominate the IT sector. We strongly feel that if Government includes MSMEs in IT then we will see path-breaking and cost-effective solutions in the transport sector.”

The other highlight of the event was presentation of the draft policy document of the revolutionary technology – On Vehicle Smart Module (OVSM) to Chief Guest Suresh Prabhu, honourable Union Minister of Railways, by AIM-IT’s founder chairman, Mr Vinit Goenka.

OVSM was one of the top five recommendations which were selected after a nationwide campaign conducted by a special policy group – #ITforParivahan. This policy group was set up by Govt of India’s IT task force members and renowned technocrats Padmashree Dr. Mohandas Pai and Mr. Vinit Goenka as a platform to crowd source ideas to improve Indian infrastructure.

Mr Vinit Goenka said that implementing IT will help government build transparent, economic, fast, scalable solutions through disruptive and inclusive ideas.