Lok Sabha Question No. 2900 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-03-15
Subject: Online Tracking of Stocks
Ministry: CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
Asked by: ANANDRAO  ADSUL, SHIVAJI ADHALRAO PATIL, DODDAALAHALLI KEMPEGOWDA SURESH

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION DEPARTMENT OF FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2900

TO BE ANSWERED ON 15 th  MARCH, 2016

## ONLINE TRACKING OF STOCKS

2900. SHRI D.K. SURESH:

SHRI ANANDRAO ADSUL: SHRI ADHALRAO PATIL SHIVAJIRAO:

Will  the  Minister  of  CONSUMER  AFFAIRS,  FOOD  AND  PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION miHkksDrk ekeys] [kk| vkSj lkoZtfud forj.k ea=h be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government proposes to replace the existing system of manual  upgradation  of  grain  stocks  data  in  various  depots  and  on  the transit with the system of online tracking and monitoring of stocks if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Government is considering to link all godowns of Food Corporation  of  India  (FCI)  through  an  online  network  to  track  real  time stock positions and quality of grains stored and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the FCI has taken godowns on hiring basis, if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether the online tracking system will also be implemented in the godowns hired by the FCI and if so, the details therof; and
- (e) the  time  by  which  all  the  godowns  are  likely  to  be  linked  with  the network to track retail time stock positions and quality of grains stored?

## A N S W E R MINISTER OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRI RAM  VILAS PASWAN)

- (a) & (b):  Yes, Madam.  Food Corporation of India (FCI) has already taken up a project called 'Depot Online System' to automate all the operations at the depot level and eliminate usage of manual registers by capturing data online at source and on a real time basis. This system can provide data on stocks in transit, but there will be no tracking enroute.  Details are given in Annexure.

(c):    Yes,  FCI  hires  godowns  from  Central  Warehousing  Corporation (CWC),  State  Warehousing  Corporations  (SWCs),  State  agencies  and private parties for storage of foodgrains. The details indicating number of godowns hired on rent along with capacity during the last three years and the current year are given as below:-

| As on      |   Number of Hired Godowns |   Capacity of Hired godowns (in Lakh MT) |
|------------|---------------------------|------------------------------------------|
| 31.03.2013 |                      1395 |                                   220.95 |
| 31.03.2014 |                      1356 |                                   212.49 |
| 31.03.2015 |                      1242 |                                   203.45 |
| 31.01.2016 |                      1345 |                                   205.27 |

- (d):    Yes,  the  online  system  is  being  implemented  initially  in  FCI's  own depots and would be extended to godowns hired by FCI subsequently.

(e):  It is expected to link all the own godowns of FCI by July, 2016.  No timeline has been fixed for the hired godowns, since the work for these godowns is to be undertaken by the respective agencies, SWCs and CWC.

***

## Depot Online System

## ANNEXURE

ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  &  (b)  OF  THE UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  2900  DUE  FOR  ANSWER  ON  15.03.2016  IN

THE LOK SABHA

## Scope of the project

FCI  is  implementing Depot  Online  System  to  automate  all  the operations  at  the  depot  level  and  eliminate  usage  of  manual registers  by  capturing  data  online  at  source  and  on  a  real  time basis.  Initially,  the  project  is  being  implemented in the FCI's own depots. However, subsequently, the project will be implemented in hired godowns as well. The project is being implemented under the technical  support  from  Department  of  Electronics  and  Information technology (DeitY) and National Informatics Center (NIC).

## Key Benefits

## The expected benefits are mentioned below:

- Integrated view of end to end processes, use of workflow, notification and alerts
- Seamless connection between depots and district/regional offices of FCI
- Capture  data  at  source  and  in  real  time  through  Handheld Devices, reduce redundancy
- Integrate with weigh bridge to read data automatically
- Standardize and improve current processes to increase efficiency
- Free up manpower from laborious data collation and report preparation
- Leverage Information Technology as decision support systems to handle dynamic nature of business
- Align with 'Digital India' vision of the Government

## Major Milestones

- FCI  appointed M/s  PricewaterhouseCoopers  (PwC)  as  the project consultant on 17 th  Nov'14, for assisting FCI in deciding a  suitable System  Integrator  for  the  project  and  thereafter support the implementation of the project.
- On 8 th   April 2015, the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for Depot Online System, containing the specifications for the hardware to  be  procured  and  strategy  for  training  implementation  and roll-out of the project across all FCI and non- FCI depots, was finalized and approved by the Board of Directors of FCI.
- Tender floated on 14 th  May'15 and work awarded to M/s Ricoh India Ltd on 14 th  Aug'15.

## Current Status:-

1. The application is being initially rolled out in pilot depots.
2. The Depot Online System Application has been hosted on the
3. NIC Cloud Server.
3. User  credentials  for  all  the  Pilot  Depots  have  already  been created. User Credentials for the Head Quarter/Zonal Office/Regional Office/District Office are being created by M/s Ricoh, System Integrator (SI).
4. Training  has  been  imparted  to  the  personnel  in  the  Pilot Depots.
5. Hardware has been installed at these depots.
6. Gateways  for  E-mail  &  SMS  alerts  are  being  arranged  from NIC.
7. Data Recovery site for the application is being provisioned by NIC.

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