Civil supplies departmen’s IT adoption now a case study at Indian School of Business

The adoption of Information Technology in the public distribution system (PDS) that enabled the Telangana State Civil Supplies Department (TSCDS) to plug leakages and improve operational efficiency, is now a case study for future entrepreneurial leaders at Indian School of Business (ISB). The case study looks at various Information Technology (IT) reformations undertaken by the department in 2017-18 that helped them get ranked first the country for technology adoption.

The ISB case study titled “Turnaround of Food and Civil Supplies Department in Telangana Government” chronicles the tenure of C.V.Anand, Commissioner of civil supplies since assuming office on August 15, 2017. The study pointed out the different departmental and financial issues the department faces and the steps that were taken which resulted in rice millers returning 100 per cent of the Custom Milled Rice in the Kharif season of 2016-17. The department achieved this by negotiating, withdrawing pending cases and offering support to the millers.  

Earlier the rice millers often did not return CMR to the civil supplies, the department estimates that 0.2 million metric tons of rice were pending from the millers, amounting to `4.85 billion. The study showcases how steps such as the adoption of e-PoS machines at 17,200 Fair Price Shops helped save `7.5-8 billion every year. The department claimed that `81 billion payment to 1.1 million farmers in 2017-18 kharif and rabi crop seasons were made using tablets at the PPC using the OPMS software.