The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has selected six companies, including Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), NEC Corporation India and Kyndryl Solutions, to provide artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) services and personnel for government projects under the Digital India programme, according to a report by Moneycontrol.
The empanelment, carried out by the National e-Governance Division (NeGD), will enable central ministries, state departments, public sector undertakings and affiliated organisations to access a common pool of AI vendors for projects spanning citizen services, analytics, process automation and operational efficiency.
The other companies selected are Cactus Technology Solutions Pvt Ltd (CTSPL), CoRover Pvt Ltd and Innefu Labs Ltd. The six firms emerged from a competitive bidding process that drew around 80 participants, including major consulting and technology companies such as Deloitte, EY, PwC, KPMG, Fractal Analytics and Gnani, the report said.
According to Moneycontrol, the empanelment will remain valid for two years, with an option to extend it by an additional year. The initiative is aimed at streamlining the procurement of AI services across government departments by standardising commercial terms and reducing onboarding timelines.
Among the selected vendors, Innefu Labs submitted the lowest bid at ₹40.67 lakh, followed by TCS at ₹42.89 lakh. NEC Corporation India quoted ₹48.98 lakh, CTSPL bid ₹52.74 lakh, Kyndryl submitted a bid of ₹55.70 lakh, while CoRover quoted ₹69 lakh.
The move comes as the government accelerates efforts to integrate AI into both public-facing services and internal administrative functions.
Under the empanelment framework, government agencies can directly engage any of the approved vendors for AI-related assignments, although they are required to keep NeGD informed of such engagements, according to the report.
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