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 15 September.
The Finance Minister was concerned about the glitches still being there on the portal despite two and half months since its launch, the Income Tax department 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 portal, developed by Infosys, was launched on 7 June 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 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 8 June, 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.
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.