Kerala's Cooperative Department fired TCS for quoting ₹206 crore, then re-tendered with requirements so specific that only the right kind of inexperienced company could win — at ₹915 crore. Innovation in procurement.
In a masterclass of fiscal efficiency, Kerala's Cooperative Department awarded a common software platform project for 4,415 primary cooperative societies to TCS at ₹206 crore. Then, under what officials call 'mysterious circumstances' and what everyone else calls Tuesday, the contract was scrapped. A fresh e-tender in April 2025 introduced requirements so narrowly tailored — like mandatory workforce presence in Kerala — that established IT firms couldn't qualify. The project cost ballooned to ₹915 crore, a casual ₹700 crore markup that Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala flagged days before Kerala's assembly elections. Chief Minister Vijayan dismissed the allegations as 'baseless and politically motivated,' which is political Sanskrit for 'please stop looking at our spreadsheets.'