Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday told India’s second largest information technology company Infosys to resolve glitches in the functioning of the e-filing portal of the Income Tax (IT) department by September 15.
Sitharaman, who met Salil Parekh, managing director and CEO of Infosys, today afternoon, conveyed “the deep disappointment and concerns of the government and the taxpayers about the continuing glitches in the e-filing portal of the Income Tax Department even after two and half months since its launch,” noted a statement issued by the the Press Information Bureau (PIB) dated August 23, adding that the finance minister sought an explanation from Infosys for the repeated issues faced by taxpayers.
“The Finance Minister demanded that the issues faced by taxpayers on current functionalities of the portal should be resolved by the team by 15th September, 2021 so that taxpayers and professionals can work seamlessly on the portal,” the statement added.
On Sunday, August 22 the IT department posted on Twitter that the Ministry of Finance has summoned the top boss of the Bengaluru-based software-services major to explain about the continued glitches in the e-filing portal since its launch in early June this year.
However, later that evening, Infosys in a Twitter post said, “The emergency maintenance of the @IncomeTaxIndia portal has concluded and the portal is live. We regret any inconvenience caused to taxpayers.”
It was the tech firm’s second meeting with the finance minister on August 23 regarding the issues in the new Income Tax portal.
“The Ministry of Finance emphasised that there is a need for putting in more resources and efforts on the part of Infosys so that the much delayed delivery of agreed services is ensured. Mr. Parekh was also sensitised on the difficulties that the taxpayers were facing and the problems that are arising on account of the delays in the functioning of the portal,” added the PIB statement.
According to the statement by the government, Parekh explained that he and his team are doing “everything to ensure the smooth functioning of the portal.”
“Further, Mr. Parekh said that over 750 team members are working on this project and Mr. Pravin Rao, COO of Infosys, is personally overseeing this project. Mr. Parekh also assured that Infosys is working expeditiously to ensure a glitch-free experience to the taxpayers on the portal,” the statement noted.
In 2019, Infosys bagged the contract from the IT department to develop the new e-filing portal. The government had approved a total outlay of ₹4,242 crore for the project. However, between January 2019 and June 2021, Infosys received ₹164.5 crore under this project.
Shares of Infosys closed at ₹1739.20, up 0.41%, on the BSE on Monday, while the Sensex ended the day marginally up by 0.41%.
