Mumbai, February 23, 2018: The Government of Maharashtra signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Microsoft India at the ‘Global Investor Summit, Magnetic Maharashtra: Convergence 2018’ this week yesterday to leverage intelligent cloud-based technologies to drive the state’s digital vision. Under this MoU, Microsoft will support the state government explore cloud, machine learning and mobile based solutions to improve citizen services as well as to foster entrepreneurship in the state.
Microsoft will work with the Maharashtra IT Corporation Ltd (MahaIT) to develop solutions leveraging Artificial Intelligence, IOT, Robotics, Blockchain, Deep Learning, Genomics, Data Analytics and its Kaizala app for various citizen centric services. This includes citizen response systems, grievance redressal through the state’s Aaple Sarkar initiative, automation of land records, as well as better facilities in the fields of digital agriculture and skilling and education. Sangam, Microsoft’s cloud hosted platform that leverages Azure services, Office 365, and the power of LinkedIn, will provide an integrated solution for skilling and employment statewide.
As part of the agreement, Microsoft will provide advisory, experiences and potential framework for technology policies for the State in the above areas, in addition to supporting potential innovation centers to be set up by MahIT.
Commenting on this association Manish Prakash, Country General Manager – Public Sector, Health & Education, Microsoft India, said, “Over the past few years we have successfully developed cloud, mobile and machine learning based solutions for better citizen connect as well as to help students, educators, healthcare providers and farmers in India. This agreement is a significant step forward in our continued effort to support the government of Maharashtra in its digital journey. We remain committed to the state’s growth and look forward to a strong collaboration.”
Microsoft has been a strong partner to Maharashtra for over a decade and several State Government departments currently use Microsoft technologies to power their operations. This includes The Maharashtra RERA and Aurangabad Infrastructure Board and The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation(MIDC). Microsoft has played a key role in the government’s Digital Village project at Harisal, Amravati, by initially providing connectivity through its TV Whitespaces and bringing together partners to offer services like healthcare, education, telemedicine and smart agriculture. Today, these services, hosted on the Azure platform, are touching the lives of over 20,000 villagers from Harisal and nearby villages.
Microsoft has also been consistently working to provide local language computing in Indian languages. Microsoft Office and Windows support 11 Indian language scripts and overall supporting 22 Indian languages including Marathi. With the help of its AI technologies, Microsoft is now making translation and speech recognition across several Indian languages.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) is the leading platform and productivity company for the mobile-first, cloud-first world, and its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Microsoft set up its India operations in 1990. Today, Microsoft entities in India have over 8,000 employees, engaged in sales and marketing, research and development and customer services and support, across 11 Indian cities – Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, New Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune. Microsoft offers its global cloud services from local datacenters to accelerate digital transformation across Indian start-ups, businesses, and government agencies. In 2016, Microsoft opened one of its eight Cybersecurity Engagement Centers in the country to address security needs of both public and private sectors.
