The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has awarded a Rs 1.25 billion (bn) contract to CIPL, a Noida-based technology solutions company, to implement AI-driven IT modernisation, digitalisation and cybersecurity across 47 locations nationwide over the next three years. The deal replaces conventional incremental upgrades with a programme conceived as a full-scale digital transformation to strengthen operational continuity and reduce unplanned downtime in mission-critical installations.

It will deploy artificial intelligence, predictive maintenance and intelligent automation to enable proactive fault detection, capacity planning and faster incident response. Cloud-first strategies and a formal AI governance framework are intended to enhance data security and compliance while enabling scalable service delivery. The programme is designed to integrate legacy systems with modern observability tools and to apply analytics for performance optimisation across distributed infrastructure.

A dedicated workforce of over 450 skilled IT professionals will be stationed across ONGC offices to manage rollout, provide round-the-clock monitoring and ensure continuity of critical services. The contractor will undertake phased migration, standardisation of configurations and implementation of centralised threat detection. Emphasis will be placed on resilient architectures and incident playbooks to maintain business continuity during planned and unplanned events.

The initiative is presented as a partnership that bridges ONGC's operational legacy since 1956 with CIPL's technical experience since 2007 in managing large enterprise IT estates. Stakeholders expect the programme to set sectoral benchmarks for large-scale infrastructure management, cybersecurity posture and digital service delivery. Implementation is expected to follow staged governance with measurable key performance indicators for uptime, mean time to repair and security incident reduction, and to deliver improved operational efficiency and resilience across the company's estate.

The contract includes capacity building and knowledge transfer components to enable sustained operation by internal teams, with training and documentation tailored to site requirements. Performance dashboards and periodic audits will provide transparency on progress and security posture. The arrangement is expected to support uninterrupted energy operations while enabling gradual adoption of advanced digital practices.