Coempt Edu Teck has issued its most comprehensive response to allegations surrounding the Central Board of Secondary Education's (CBSE's) on-screen marking (OSM) system controversy. According to reports from Business Standard, the Hyderabad-based technology vendor categorically denied software and security failures, attributing reported answer-sheet discrepancies to scanning errors rather than technological flaws. The company stated that a widely reported case involving a student allegedly receiving another candidate's answer sheet was traced to the physical scanning process rather than a technological flaw, with the company identifying the location and individual responsible for the scanning process. As reported by The Times of India, Coempt's internal review found no technological fault and verified 100% that there is no error in the case, with preliminary findings pointing to manual oversight rather than technical malfunction.
As reported by Business Standard, Coempt addressed allegations of a security breach by clarifying that the system accessed by a 19-year-old ethical hacker was a server used for testing purposes. The company stated that this server is never used for client operations and has public access with dummy tests, emphasizing that no student data or technical infrastructure was compromised. According to The Times of India, Coempt acknowledged the interaction but maintained that no operational systems had been compromised, as all the hacker managed to access was a testing server used for internal purposes. Regarding allegations of tender conditions being altered to accommodate substandard hardware, Coempt refuted these claims, confirming that the scanners used for digitisation were standard industry-grade equipment with periodic hardware upgrades. The company won CBSE's digital evaluation contract, surpassing Tata Consultancy Services in the bidding process by submitting a financial bid nearly 60% lower than the Mumbai-headquartered company.
According to Business Standard, Coempt reported that answer sheets had been provided to nearly 95% of students who sought access to them, with remaining complaints being reviewed in coordination with relevant authorities. As reported by The Times of India, the company claimed that despite "isolated bottlenecks," answer sheets had already been successfully delivered to nearly 95% of students who had applied for access, though it did not specify the status of the remaining applicants. The company addressed complaints about blurred scans and difficulties in reading handwritten responses, stating that such cases were being reviewed systematically in coordination with the relevant evaluation authorities. According to CBSE data, 404,319 students had sought scanned copies of their answer sheets, with Coempt claiming that around 384,103 applicants have received access, leaving roughly 20,216 students still awaiting their copies. The company described itself as an examination-solutions provider serving more than 35 universities and institutions across India, currently processing nearly two crore answer booklets every year through services including digitisation, on-screen marking, AI-assisted evaluation, and question-paper management.
The board used Coempt's OnMark platform to digitally evaluate nearly 10 million Class 12 answer scripts before declaring results on May 13. According to The Times of India, out of roughly 9.8 million answer sheets scanned, more than 68,000 suffered image-quality issues and over 13,000 had to be evaluated manually because they were digitally illegible. The controversy has also brought renewed attention to the CBSE's OSM procurement process, with the first tender attracting no bids and none of the four bidders in the second round qualifying technically. Several conditions were subsequently relaxed in the third tender, including the requirement for automated robotic scanning and the minimum scanning resolution, which was reduced from 300 DPI to 200 DPI. CBSE later discontinued the use of Coempt's OnMark platform for the re-evaluation process amid concerns over security and shifted operations to infrastructure under the board's direct control, with the re-evaluation process now hosted on board-controlled servers with support from experts at IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur.
As reported by Business Standard, Coempt Edu Teck reported total revenue of ₹68 crore as of March 31, 2025, with net profit standing at ₹3.7 crore. The company spent nearly ₹3.4 crore on legal expenses during the last financial year, while it wrote off assets worth nearly ₹8 crore, including bad debts worth ₹5.2 crore and miscellaneous expenditure worth ₹5.8 crore. The company's employee count has fluctuated between 35 in February 2022 and 107 as of April 2026, with the registered office located in Madhura Nagar, Yousufguda, Hyderabad.
According to Business Standard, Coempt addressed renewed attention on the 2019 Telangana Intermediate examination controversy, stating that courts had examined the matter and cleared the company of wrongdoing. The company asserted that it had never been blacklisted by any board, university or government authority, describing these as matters of public record. As reported by The Times of India, Coempt sought to address criticism linked to the 2019 Telangana Intermediate examination controversy, an issue repeatedly cited by opposition leaders and critics questioning CBSE's decision to award the OSM contract to Coempt. Referring to judicial records, the company said the Supreme Court had examined the matter and noted that out of 3.8 lakh students who initially failed the examination, only 1,183 were found to have passed upon review, amounting to an evaluation variance of just 0.16%. The company said the apex court subsequently rejected petitions seeking mass re-evaluation of answer sheets, compensation for students and criminal action against the technology provider.
