Income Tax portal’s glitches should be fixed by September 15, Nirmala Sitharaman tells Infosys
Users have been complaining about problems with the website since its launch on June 7.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday directed Infosys Chief Executive Officer Salil Parekh to fix the glitches in the Income Tax department’s e-filing portal by September 15.
The portal, developed by Infosys, was launched on June 7 with a host of new features for taxpayers. The new website aims to reduce processing time for tax returns from 63 days to one day and expedite refunds.
However, users have been complaining about problems in using the portal since its launch. On Sunday, the finance ministry had asked Parekh to explain why the glitches on the website had still not been resolved.
On Monday, Sitharaman conveyed her “deep disappointment” and the central government’s concern on the portal’s functioning during a meeting with Parekh, who is also the managing director of Infosys, the ministry said in a statement.
“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,” the statement said.
The Infosys CEO told the ministry that his company was working to quickly resolve the problems. Parekh said that more than 750 team members were working on the glitches on the portal, and that Infosys’ Chief Operating Officer Pravin Rao was also overseeing the project.
On June 8, Sitharaman had alerted Infosys chairperson Nandan Nilekani on Twitter about the glitches on the portal. In response to Sitharaman’s tweet, Nilekani had then said he expected the tax filing system to stabilise during the week.
As the glitches remained unresolved in the next two weeks, Sitharaman held a meeting with Infosys officials. She had, at the meeting, expressed deep concern about the problems faced by those trying to access the tax portal.
Infosys has also developed the government’s Goods and Services Tax Network portal. In 2020, the government objected to the firm’s “tardy” progress in resolving glitches on that website too.