# National Informatics Centre

The National Informatics Centre Services Inc. (NIC) is an Indian government department under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). The NIC provides infrastructure, IT Consultancy, IT Services including but not limited to architecture, design, development and implementation of IT Systems to Central Government Departments and State Governments, helping in implementing the digitization initiatives of Digital India. The organisation also carries out research in the IT domain and recruits various scientists and Scientific/Technical Assistants. The organisation's primary function is to cater to ICT needs at all levels of governance and facilitate digital access to government services for citizens.

## History

The National Informatics Centre (NIC) was established in 1976 by Narasimaiah Seshagiri under the Electronics Commission of India and later moved under the Planning Commission of India before coming under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY - Hindi: इलेक्ट्रॉनिकी और सूचना प्रौद्योगिकी मंत्रालय). Additional Secretary Narasimaiah Seshagiri was the first to introduce a network system in India called NICNET. The organisation designs and develops IT systems for various government bodies, helping in the modernization of management and administration processes of these government bodies as the country underwent Globalisation. The organisation provides digital access to various government services to the citizens..
It had an annual budget of ₹11.5 billion (US$130 million) for the year 2018–19. Most of this is spent in providing free services to various Government Departments.

## Infrastructure and services

National Informatics Centre Services include:
* Digital Government Research Centre (DGRC)
* Government Local Area Networks (LANs)
* Video Conferencing
* National Knowledge Network (NKN)
* Mobile Competency Centre
* Email & Messaging
* Remote Sensing & GIS
* Webcast
* Domain Registration
* National Cloud
* Command and Control
* NICNET
* Data Centre
* Security
* Block Chain Technology
NIC's Network, "NICNET", facilitates the institutional linkages with the Ministries/Departments of the Central Government, state Governments and District administrations of India. NIC is the primary constructor of e-Government applications. It also manages the National Knowledge Network.

### Data centers and offices

In 2018, NIC opened its fourth data center in Bhubaneshwar to complement its existing data centers in New Delhi, Hyderabad and Pune. In addition to the National Data Centres, NIC offices include Head Quarters situated in New Delhi and has State Centres in all 36 states and Union territories. This is supplemented by 741 district offices.

### National cloud

National Informatics Centre developed GI Cloud named as MeghRaj. This project was launched by Government of India for cloud computing in February 2014. MeghRaj Cloud offers a variety of service model like Platform as a Service (PaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Software as a Services (Saas), Virtual servers, Kubernetes containers, DevOps, etc. In April 2023, Jio Platforms secured a ₹ 350 crore contract to manage and improve the cloud services of National Informatics Centre (NIC) for five years for onsite maintenance at various Data Centers in Delhi, Pune and Bhubaneswar.

### Centres of Excellence

The following CoE(Centre of Excellence) has been established:
* Artificial Intelligence
* Blockchain Technology
* Microservices
* Data Analytics
* Application Security
NIC established the Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence in 2019 to explore more opportunities for AI applications in governance. In 2020, the Union Government and NIC has launched the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Blockchain Technology in Bengaluru.

### Bharat Maps

Bharat Maps is a web mapping service maintained by the National Informatics Center. The project was implemented in the 2004-09 five-year cycle and the data is derived from Survey of India, Registrar General of India and Indian Space Research Organization. The maps are used by various government departments for official purposes and is also available for the use of consumers.

### National Portal of India

NIC maintains the National Portal of India. The portal contains the Constitution of India, and has a design objective to a single point to access the information and services of the Government of India.