Chennai: The state government’s long-awaited free laptop scheme will finally take off between February and March 2026, with the tender process with three multinational computer manufacturers finalised.
About 20 lakh students in over 4,600 Arts, Science, Engineering, Agriculture and Medical colleges across the State are expected to benefit from the Rs 2,000-crore project, which was announced in the 2025–26 State Budget.
A senior official from the Higher Education Department said the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT), which floated the tender in May, has completed all formalities, including finalising the technical specifications of the laptops.
The laptops, to be procured from Acer, Dell and HP, will feature a 15-inch display, Intel i3 or AMD Ryzen 3 processor, 8 to 12 GB RAM, and a 256 GB hard disk. They will also come with pre-installed educational tools and essential software.
“The first batch is expected to be delivered by December or January,” the official said. “Each batch will undergo random quality tests by an expert committee comprising faculty members from Anna University and IIT, along with officials from the National Informatics Centre, before distribution.”
Following successful testing, the State is expected to announce the formal distribution schedule — likely between February and March 2026.
For smooth implementation, all government college principals were instructed to identify beneficiaries and submit reports by August 2025. “All student data will be verified, and the State is also developing an Enterprise Resource Planning system to track delivery schedules, vendor details, supply numbers, and stock,” the official said.