Contractors allege financial irregularities in Bescom’s ₹61.98 Cr IT overhaul project involving Infinite Solutions

Bengaluru 

Contractors in Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) have alleged financial irregularities in the execution of ₹61.98 crore Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) IT Phase-2 project, raising questions over cost structures, delays and expenditure patterns linked to the long-pending IT overhaul.

The project, aimed at modernising Bescom’s digital infrastructure and addressing persistent hardware and software vulnerabilities, involves the migration of critical applications to a dedicated data centre at HSR Layout. Infinite Computer Solutions has been entrusted with the migration and upgradation of all RAPDRP (Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme) IT applications, including billing and customer management systems.

The total approved cost of the project is ₹61.98 crore, as per the Detailed Project Report (DPR) sanctioned on July 5, 2017, covering 20 towns under Bescom’s jurisdiction. Of this, 60%—amounting to ₹37.19 crore—is funded by the Government of India and is convertible into a grant upon achievement of prescribed milestones. Bescom is required to bear the remaining 40% of the cost, along with any additional revenue expenditure not mentioned in the DPR. 

A contractor on the condition of anonymity pointed to what he described as inconsistencies between the original scope, timelines and the eventual execution of the project. He also cited the prolonged delays between sanction and implementation, noting that while federal approval for IPDS Phase-2 was conveyed by the Ministry of Power in July 2017, the work packages were formally awarded only in March 2020 after tendering delays in 2018.

Prior to the current migration, Bescom continued to operate its IT applications on co-hosted third-party servers. A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report had earlier flagged that delays in establishing internal data centres resulted in “additional expenditure on co-hosting charges” for unsupported infrastructure. Another contractor alleged that such recurring costs, incurred over several years, reflect financial inefficiencies in project planning and execution.

Infinite Computer Solutions’ role includes migrating all RAPDRP applications from a Sify co-hosted data centre to Bescom’s own facility and upgrading application versions to ensure compatibility with modern infrastructure. Bescom officials have stated that these upgrades are necessary to address long-standing software integration issues that had led to erratic energy audit results and mapping problems.

The Bescom Board of Directors, at its meeting on November 15, 2023, approved a 10-day system downtime scheduled for March 2024 to complete the final phase of migration. The applications were successfully shifted to the HSR Layout data centre by mid-2024, and the project has since entered its final rollout stage in 2026. The contractors alleged that the cost now may have escalated to ₹ 170 crore.

Bescom’s IT initiatives have previously drawn scrutiny. The utility had spent ₹42.04 crore on an ERP system that suffered significant rollout delays, an issue repeatedly highlighted in audit observations. Contractors now argue that the IPDS Phase-2 project must be closely examined to ensure that public funds—both central and utility-borne—have been utilised strictly as per approvals and sanctioned scope.

Bescom has maintained that the current project is a critical step towards reducing dependence on legacy hardware, standardising business processes and improving billing accuracy across urban areas. However, the allegations of financial irregularities by contractors are expected to add pressure for greater transparency and detailed scrutiny of the project’s expenditure and decision-making trail.