REC Limited: Salesforce Einstein Bot powering citizen onboarding for PM Surya Ghar on WhatsApp
REC Limited — the National Programme Implementation Agency for PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana — worked with Nanostuffs to build a Salesforce Einstein Bot on WhatsApp that takes a citizen from a QR-code scan through National Portal registration, vendor discovery and subsidy calculation, in 11 languages, without ever opening a browser.
The question was whether the scheme's entire onboarding journey could be delivered inside a WhatsApp conversation.
At a glance
Client
REC Limited — National Programme Implementation Agency for PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana, Ministry of Power
Challenge
Scheme awareness and citizen onboarding for a national solar programme required a channel that worked for India — not a browser, not a form, but a conversation
Solution
A Salesforce Einstein Bot on WhatsApp: scan a QR code, register on the National Portal, find a vendor, calculate your subsidy — without leaving the chat
Result
PAN-India live since 4th June 2025, in 11 languages, with four real-time API integrations — National Portal registration, vendor discovery, subsidy calculation and natural-language Q&A. More than 1 lakh citizens have used it since launch
Reaching a crore of households means meeting them where they already are
PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana sets out to bring rooftop solar and up to 300 free units of electricity a month to a crore of Indian households. REC Limited, as the National Programme Implementation Agency, carries the responsibility of getting that scheme in front of citizens and converting awareness into action — registration on the National Portal, selection of a vendor, and eventual subsidy realisation.
The challenge was one of access. The standard path — visit a government portal, navigate a registration form, identify vendors independently, work out subsidy entitlement — assumes digital literacy and reliable desktop access that a significant portion of intended beneficiaries simply do not have. At the same time, India has over 500 million active WhatsApp users. The question was whether the scheme's entire onboarding journey could be delivered inside a WhatsApp conversation.
There was also a depth requirement. A promotional bot that only shares information would not move citizens to action. What REC needed was a bot that could actually complete steps — verifying identity via OTP, registering on the National Portal in real time, pulling live vendor data by district, and calculating subsidy amounts — without redirecting the user to any external interface.
Engagement Snapshot
- Client
- REC Limited — Maharatna PSU, Ministry of Power
- Programme
- PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana
- Bot platform
- Salesforce Einstein Bot
- Channel
- WhatsApp (via WhatsApp Cloud API)
- Languages
- 11 languages supported
- Geography
- PAN-India
- Access points
- QR code on National Portal + printed materials
- Live since
- 4th June 2025
Why Einstein Bot was the right core for a government-scale WhatsApp programme
Salesforce Einstein Bot sits at the intersection of three things this project required: a conversational AI engine capable of structured multi-step journeys, native integration with Service Cloud for escalation and case continuity, and a platform already trusted at enterprise and government scale. For a programme where a citizen's conversation might start on WhatsApp and escalate to a call-centre agent, having the bot and the case management system on the same platform was not a convenience — it was an architectural requirement.
The WhatsApp channel was delivered via the WhatsApp Cloud API, with Einstein Bot orchestrating the conversation logic. OTP-based identity verification, real-time vendor data and subsidy calculation all needed to work inside a single WhatsApp thread — which meant the bot had to hold authenticated state across multiple API calls within one session.
What Salesforce Einstein Bot handles natively
- Conversational flow orchestration and session management via Einstein Bot
- Escalation to live CCC agents with full conversation transcript continuity
- Multilingual delivery across 11 languages
- WhatsApp Cloud API channel connectivity and configuration
- Generative AI integration for free-form natural-language scheme Q&A — citizens ask any question in their own language and receive a grounded, conversational answer about PM Surya Ghar
Where custom engineering was needed
Three external API integrations — National Portal citizen registration, live vendor discovery and subsidy calculation — each required secure, real-time calls within a WhatsApp session. Beyond the structured flows, a generative AI integration powers free-form natural-language Q&A: a citizen can ask anything about the scheme in their own language and receive a grounded, conversational answer — without scripted menus or dead ends. Building and orchestrating all of this within Einstein Bot was the core engineering challenge.
What we built
01 · Layer
National Portal onboarding via OTP
The bot verifies the citizen's mobile number via OTP against the National Portal API, registers them as a consumer and confirms their portal ID — entirely within the WhatsApp chat.
Einstein Bot + PMSG Registration API02 · Layer
Top-rated vendors by district
The citizen shares their state and district; the bot calls the Vendor Discovery API and returns the top 10 rated vendors in that area with contact details, ratings and installation counts.
Vendor Discovery API03 · Layer
Subsidy estimation in real time
Using the subsidy calculation API, the bot calculates the citizen's subsidy entitlement based on their inputs and presents it conversationally, in their chosen language.
Subsidy Calculation APIThree authenticated API sessions, one WhatsApp conversation
The functional scope of the bot required three separate external systems, each with its own authentication model, to work reliably within a single WhatsApp conversation thread. A citizen should not have to re-authenticate between steps, and a failure in one API call should not break the entire session.
The National Portal Registration API uses OAuth2 with a 20-minute token window, OTP session tokens and IP whitelisting. The Vendor Discovery API returns AES-encrypted payloads that must be decrypted on the GMS side before the data can be surfaced in the conversation. The subsidy calculation API brings a third authentication model. Orchestrating all three within Einstein Bot — managing token refresh, handling encrypted responses and surfacing results in the citizen's language — was the engineering work at the centre of this project.
The bot had to be more than a menu — it had to be a complete, secure, multi-system transaction engine that felt like a conversation.
Nanostuffs built the integration layer connecting Einstein Bot to all three APIs, handling authentication and token lifecycle, decrypting vendor payloads and formatting results into clear, conversational WhatsApp messages across all 11 supported languages.
Before
- Citizens needed a browser and technical literacy to register on the National Portal.
- Vendor selection required independent search with no guidance on ratings or proximity.
- Subsidy calculation was opaque — citizens had no self-service way to estimate entitlement.
After
- Citizens register on the National Portal inside a WhatsApp chat via OTP — no browser required.
- The bot returns the top 10 rated vendors in the citizen's own district, with contact details and ratings.
- Subsidy entitlement is calculated and presented conversationally, in the citizen's own language.
How we delivered it
A scoped, phased delivery: design the conversation journeys first, build and integrate each API module, validate in multiple languages, then deliver PAN-India.
Discovery & design
Mapped the full citizen journey and designed conversation flows and WhatsApp templates across all 11 languages.
Bot build & integration
Built the Einstein Bot conversation logic and developed the integration layer for all three external APIs, with authentication, encryption handling and error flows.
UAT & multilingual validation
Validated all flows across 11 languages; tested OTP journeys, vendor API responses and subsidy calculations end to end.
Go-live & run
Delivered PAN-India on 4th June 2025, with QR codes active on the National Portal and printed scheme materials. Monitoring in production and delivering enhancements as the programme evolves.
What changed for REC Limited
Real numbers only — pending metrics await client-approved data.
citizens have used the bot since launch (as of July 2026)
of bot users calculated their subsidy entitlement inside the chat
of bot users connected with a rated vendor in their district
PAN-India go-live, on schedule and within agreed timelines
A citizen who could not navigate a government portal can now register, find a vendor and know their subsidy entitlement — in their own language, on the phone already in their hand.
“PM Surya Ghar is a programme for every Indian household — and that includes households that have never navigated a government portal. The WhatsApp bot that Nanostuffs built for us changes that entirely. A citizen scans a QR code, registers on the National Portal, finds a vendor in their district and calculates their subsidy — in their own language, without opening a browser. For a programme of this ambition, that kind of reach is not optional.”
Dheeraj Anand
General Manager, RTS/Grievance · REC Limited
Salesforce Einstein Bot — common questions
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