Purna Singh New Delhi

Ina move aimed at modernising and simplifying the government tendering process, the Delhi Government on Friday has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the State Bank of India (SBI) to introduce an integrated digital payment system for the Delhi Government’s eProcurement Portal.

The agreement was signed between the Delhi e-Governance Society (DeGS), functioning under the Department of Information Technology, Government of NCT of Delhi, and SBI for the implementation of a new digital payment platform called ‘e-Pay’.

The new system is designed to strengthen transparency, improve efficiency and promote ease of doing business in government procurement processes. It will offer enhanced e-banking services, seamless digital payment support and comprehensive Management Information System (MIS) assistance for procurement-related operations.

At present, the e-tendering ecosystem largely depends on manual payment methods and physical processing systems. With the rollout of the e-Pay solution, the entire payment mechanism will be digitised, reducing paperwork and manual intervention while ensuring faster and more transparent transactions for stakeholders participating in government tenders.

As part of the reform measures, the IT Department has also integrated the Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) feature into the Delhi Government eProcurement Portal.

The digital integration will allow bidders to make and verify payments online with real-time transaction confirmation, significantly reducing delays and administrative hurdles.The new mechanism will also eliminate the need for bidders to submit physical demand drafts, making the tendering process fully paperless and more convenient for businesses and contractors.

Under the partnership, SBI will assist the Delhi e-Governance Society in managing secure online payment services connected to the Delhi Government’s e-tendering ecosystem. The MoU was formally signed by the Director of DeGS and SBI’s Deputy General Manager.

Delhi Information Technology Minister Pankaj Kumar Singh said the initiative reflects the government’s focus on strengthening digital governance and improving public service delivery through technology-driven reforms.