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Highlights
- The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), Ministry of Finance, Government of India, is tasked with formulation and implementation of policies pertaining to indirect taxes such as customs, central excise, and GST.
- The CBIC-TCS partnership dates back to 2008 when the taxation authority successfully consolidated their IT infrastructure and moved to a centralized data center.
- The collaboration deepened with Project Saksham in 2016 – a strategic initiative to modernize CBIC’s IT landscape using advanced technologies. TCS anchored the strategy, execution, and delivery of multiple tracks for this IT modernization program.
On this page
IT strategy refresh
CBIC wanted to revamp its IT landscape for seamless delivery of end-to-end services to all stakeholders.
Building on the success of their 2008 IT consolidation program, where CBIC worked with TCS to move from a distributed architecture to a centralized data center model, the authority embarked on Project Saksham in the year 2015. The key goal of this program was to refresh CBIC’s IT landscape using state-of-the-art technologies in order to ensure readiness for upcoming policy frameworks.
Project Saksham was envisioned as a crucial technology enabler of the overall tax reform initiative of the Government of India. In terms of core physical IT needs, it called for setting up of an elastic virtual environment, a high-speed data center network, and robust security solutions to ensure real-time detection and mitigation of data breaches and security threats. This required a detailed assessment of the technology stack in use as well as a deep understanding of CBIC’s breadth of work and future technology needs.
CBIC chose TCS as the transformation partner recognizing our elaborate understanding of all these functions and expertise across technologies.
Digital backbone
TCS remodelled CBIC’s IT backbone to support Project Saksham.
The project’s broad scope of work included:
- Implementing an internal online portal to track and update the status of each track of the program in real time
- Setting up and operating state-of-the-art data center technologies to be able to host new applications and services
- Refreshing the IT infrastructure at all offices pan India, with modern hardware and software as well as alternative network connectivity at critical sites
- Migrating core business applications, hosted on a legacy platform, to a new IT platform while ensuring zero downtime
- Building of network operating centers (NOCs) and a security operation center (SOC) along with providing facility management services
- Implementing a new learning management system (LMS) for departments users
- Developing a new application to help taxpayers upload their documents digitally for customs clearance, eliminating the need for physical submission
- Designing and implementing a 24x7 bilingual helpdesk to cater to 40,000 departmental users to create synergy between IT teams and provide faster resolution to user complaints
The augmentation and refresh of the data center infrastructure was carried out during non-business hours with minimal impact to regular business. This called for granularity in planning, sequencing, and coordination with multiple stakeholders such as application development partners, CBIC’s project management unit, OEMs, and field users. Given the statutory nature and 24x7 operations of CBIC, it had to be a transformation in motion, with certainty and continuity of business as usual.
Success guaranteed
TCS completed IT upgrade and application migration on time, ensuring desired business outcomes for CBIC.
The various phases of Project Saksham were completed within the stipulated timeframe. TCS also helped in the migration of CBIC’s cargo application from a third-party data center to their own data center within a rather short period of four months.
Just when this migration started, the whole world went into lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic but that didn’t stop TCS from delivering on its promise. Key outcomes for CBIC include:
- Elastic data center operations: TCS has deployed and is responsible for the management of scalable, on-demand infrastructure to support evolving IT initiatives.
- Cyber security services: Real-time threat detection and response systems have been implemented to protect mission-critical assets.
- Platform modernization: CBIC’s IT environment undergoes regular upgrades with minimal downtime to ensure continuous availability and performance of business applications.
- Application development and support: TCS shepherds ongoing development, enhancement, and maintenance of CBIC’s productivity and core business applications.
- 24x7 operational support: TCS offers round-the-clock NOC, SOC, and helpdesk services to ensure availability, security, and end-user satisfaction.
- Business continuity and resilience: Seamless disaster recovery and secure remote operations were ensured during the COVID-19 lockdowns with uninterrupted taxpayer services.
Given CBIC’s critical role in national economic infrastructure, TCS has instituted robust IT security protocols, service management systems, and a comprehensive business continuity plan. These initiatives have contributed to CBIC earning several recognitions, including:
- Triple ISO certifications
- Data Security Council of India (DSCI) awards
- Recognition (second place) by the National Cyber Security Exercise-2024 by NCIIPC
Into the future
For over 15 years, TCS has been a proud and trusted technology partner to CBIC.
This long-standing collaboration is built on a foundation of delivery excellence, reliability, and shared commitment to the Government of India’s digital transformation objectives. TCS remains committed to supporting CBIC’s evolving technology needs with innovative, resilient, and secure IT services. We continue to uphold our core values—a customer-first mindset, delivery excellence, unwavering support and full accountability—as we advance this valuable partnership.
I would like to sincerely acknowledge and appreciate the hard work put in by the TCS team for timely implementation and subsequent smooth operation of Project Saksham. The cooperation we receive from TCS leadership gives us lots of confidence in making available requisite platform and services to concerned stakeholders.