Smooth functioning of I-T portal 'top priority': Infosysy

Infosys on Wednesday said it is focused on "expeditiously" resolving issues related to the new income tax portal and termed it as the "single largest priority" for the company at the moment.

Infosys top management said that many of the issues around performance and stability have been addressed, and that about 10 lakh ITRs (income tax returns) have been filed so far.

"We are working extremely hard in making sure that all of the features are being delivered.

"We are working expeditiously...Several of the functionalities are already working, there is a large number of returns that are being filed...there is work done in making sure that all of the stability and the performance is coming together," Infosys CEO and MD Salil Parekh told reporters in a virtual briefing.

He added that while there is some work that still needs to be done, the company is confident that all these situations will be addressed in a step-by-step manner and all issues will be resolved.

Infosys was, in 2019, awarded a contract to develop the next-generation income tax filing system to reduce processing time for returns from 63 days to one day and expedite refunds. The portal went live in June this year.

The much-touted new income tax portal "http://www.incometax.gov.in" had a bumpy start from the day of its launch on June 7 as it continued to face tech glitches, which prompted Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to call a meeting on June 22 with officials of Infosys which has developed the new website.

Technical glitches, however, continue to mar the functioning of the portal as certain key utilities are not yet functional, according to chartered accountants.

On Wednesday, Infosys COO Pravin Rao said about 10 lakh ITRs have been filed so far, and on Tuesday, about one lakh ITRs were filed in a single day.

"We have made some progress, but having said that, we still have some way to go. We have to address some of the intermittent issues, we continue to face in some of the functionalities that are available.

"At the same time, we also have to roll out new functionalities as well,” he added.

Rao noted that the company has added more bandwidth and invested in leadership towards addressing these challenges.

"I want to assure that this is the single largest priority for us today, and we are hopeful to address the remaining concerns, as well as roll out the remaining functionalities in due course," Rao said.

Photograph: Vivek Prakash/Reuters