CHENNAI: In its effort to swiftly roll out the distribution of free laptops to eligible college students as promised in its 2025-26 budget, the Tamil Nadu government has floated a tender inviting bids for the procurement of 10 lakh laptops through international competitive bidding.
The tender documents showed that the government intends to provide college students with laptops of fairly high specifications, including 8 GB RAM, 256 GB Solid State Drive, Integrated Graphics supporting 128 MB VRAM or higher, display of 14 or 15.6 inch and any processor equivalent to or above Intel i3 or AMD Ryzen3 with minimum of four cores, eight threads and hyperthreading feature, and launched between January 2022 and June 2024.
Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu had said that the government aimed to distribute 20 lakh laptops over a two-year period with an allocation of Rs 2,000 crore for 2025-26. While the government had earlier announced that the college students would be able to choose whether they wanted a laptop or tablet, the tender documents indicate that the government is planning to distribute only laptops at the moment.
Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu, coming under the Department of Information Technology, which has floated the tender, said any interested bidder should be able to supply a minimum of one lakh laptops along with laptop bags. Sources said multiple vendors could be chosen to supply the 10 lakh laptops in a short period of time.
With the 2026 Assembly election less than a year away, the government intends to roll out the distribution at the earliest. Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin chaired a meeting in this regard on Monday.
Vendors should offer one-year warranty
As per the tender document, the selected vendor should be able to supply the entire committed quantity, which will be a minimum one lakh, within six months from the date of issue of work order.
Targeting all 38 districts in the state, the scheme will provide laptops to students in government and government-aided colleges. Over 4,600 educational institutions are expected to be covered, with the highest number of 366 in Coimbatore district.
In addition to supply, vendors must oversee installation, commissioning, and after-sales service, including the establishment of at least 63 service centres statewide. Coimbatore alone may host up to five centres. The vendors should offer one-year warranty and minimum three-year service support.
Devices must be fitted with BIOS-level tracking software, tamper-proof stickers, and government insignia — measures aimed at curbing black market diversion and unauthorised resale.
Prospective vendors face a series of stringent eligibility conditions — presumably designed to weed out smaller players and ensure delivery at scale. Bidders must be able to supply a minimum of 1,00,000 units and demonstrate an annual production capacity of at least the same volume. Financial thresholds are equally steep: a minimum turnover of Rs 200 crore in at least three of the past five financial years is required.
A pre-bid meeting is scheduled for May 28, followed by a second on June 6. The last date of submission of e-bids is June 26 (3 pm) and the bids will be opened on the same day at 3.30 pm.