Microsoft recognizes excellence in E-governance services

MUMBAI

OCTOBER 3, 2006

Microsoft India announced the winners of its first "Microsoft
E-governance awards". The first of the annual awards set up to recognize
the most impactful E-governance applications in the country received over 300
nominations and the winners include 20 E-governance applications implemented
across the country.

The projects nominated include those developed by the National Informatics
Centre (NIC), State IT Departments, and Department of Information Technology,
Government of India in partnership with Microsoft.

The Microsoft E-governance awards showcase IT projects that have
significantly enhanced delivery of citizen services and have ushered in a more
participative and transparent form of governance. The projects were adjudged on
several parameters including effectiveness in delivering project objectives,
optimizing on delivering government services, innovation, relevance, scalability
and replicability.

The selection of the winners was determined by an independent jury comprising
of eminent personalities like Dr Deepak Phatak, Professor, IIT-Mumbai, Dr
Gulshan Rai, Director CERT-In and Agarwal, Director, STPI, while the entire
process of nominations, submission and evaluation was audited by Skoch
Consultancy, a strategy and management consultancy company.

The awards were presented by Jean Philippe Courtois, President, Microsoft
International, Senior Vice President, Microsoft Corp, at a ceremony held in New
Delhi. Ravi Venkatesan, Chairman, Microsoft India was also present on the
occasion.

The awards ceremony also marked the release of a book "People Ready
Governance" by the esteemed academician, Dr Deepak Phatak, Professor, IIT
Mumbai. The book is a compilation of the 33 finalists of the e-governance
applications and the impact it has had on the lives of the citizens

Presenting the awards Jean Philippe Courtois, President, Microsoft
International commented, "At Microsoft, we share the Indian government's
vision for technology as an enabler of economic development. The level of
involvement and partnership we have today with the government on the building of
an e-governance roadmap for India is truly exciting, and we look forward to
working with the government to deliver solutions that bring government services
closer to the people. The Microsoft E-governance Awards showcase how technology
has already begun to positively improve the efficiency and processes in the
government."

Ravi Venkatesan, Chairman, Microsoft India added, "E-governance is a
critical necessity for our country today. A strong E-governance infrastructure
enables an efficient and transparent governance mechanism providing a thrust to
the development indices of a country. We are very happy to be working with the
Indian governments on creating such applications."

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Dr Deepak Phatak, Professor IIT Mumbai said,
"With a country that is as big, diverse and in many cases remotely located,
E governance is very critical to the overall developmental goals of India. And
it is such a pleasure to be here and witness how technology has been localized
and customized to enable the government to deliver its governance services so
effectively. And I am sure the recognition accorded here by Microsoft today will
foster even more creativity."

As pioneers in the E-governance space in India, Microsoft has been working
closely with various departments of the Central and State Governments and Public
Sector organizations for the last 13 years. Currently Microsoft partners with 14
state governments and there are nearly 150 e-governance applications running on
the Windows platform. Additionally Microsoft continues to create benchmarks in
local language computing and community outreach programs that help facilitate
affordable access to technology in rural areas for effective delivery of
E-governance service.