Assam NRC data: Wipro says IT services contract not renewed after October 2019

NEW DELHI | GUWAHATI: A day after data of the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) list disappeared from its official website, IT major Wipro said the services were terminated over non-payment of dues while the Union home ministry clarified that NRC data in Assam is safe even though some technical issues were visible and that it would be resolved soon.
“The NRC data is safe. Some technical issues are in visibility on the cloud. These are being resolved soon,” a home ministry spokesperson said.

The data was not available for a couple of days and it created panic among the public, mostly those excluded from the list as the rejection certificates were yet to be issued.

Wipro, responsible for IT services, said the authorities did not renew the services contract for the project after it expired in October 2019.


After a rigorous tender process, Wipro was appointed the system integrator for the NRC project in Assam in 2014, as per the company.

In an e-mailed statement, the Bengaluru-based company said it had continued to pay the hosting service fee until January end “as a gesture of goodwill” and that it was willing to continue providing these services if the agreement is renewed by the authorities.

However, Wipro did not comment on the quantum of dues or whether discussions were underway to resolve the issue.

Meanwhile, a senior officer in NRC, who does not want to be named, told ET, “A case was filed against an NRC officer on Wednesday for not providing the password for the data records.

The officer had left the NRC office without handing over the password. This comes under the purview of Official Secrets Act and other authorised officers have not been able to access the data.” “Wipro is claiming dues of Rs 70 crore, while as per our estimate it is Rs 60 crore. However, we are in the process of reconciling this,” he said.