Many E-filing Portal Glitches Fixed, 100,000 Returns Filed So Far: Infosys

IT major Infosys said that some of the glitches that impacted the seamless operation of the new Income Tax e-filing portal have been addressed and these were related to filing forms, e-proceedings, KYC-related issues and instant payment among other areas. The company's statement came while answering queries from shareholders at its 40th Annual General Meeting on Saturday

U B Pravin Rao, COO, Infosys said: “We are committed to resolve the concerns around the new I-T e-portal. Over the last week several of the tech glitches, which impacted the performance and stability of the portal, have been addressed and as a result we observed lakhs of unique daily users on the portal. Close to 100,000 IT returns have been filed so far.”

“As new functions are introduced in this new complex platform we have observed concerns related to filing forms, e-proceeding KYC related issue and instant payment among other areas. Our project teams are working to resolve this to ensure seamless experience for users," added Rao.

“Infosys takes great pride in working with the Income Tax department and the Government of India where we have been managing the I-T platform for a decade. We are deeply concerned with the initial glitches in the new e-portal for the users and are committed to resolve all the issues at the earliest. We look forward to working with all the stakeholders over the next few weeks to make sure that all concerns are addressed to the objective of delivering enhanced functionality and seamless user experience," Rao further clarified.

The new portal for e-filing of income-tax returns went live on June 7, at 8.45 pm. However, users started tweeting that they were unable to access the portal. The next day, the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in a tweet, asked Infosys and its non-executive chairman Nandan Nilekani to fix glitches in the portal.

In her tweet, FM said: “The much awaited e-portal 2.0 was launched last night 20.45hrs. I see my TL grievances and glitches. Hope @Infosys & @NandanNilekani will not let down our tax payers in the quality of services being provided. Ease in compliance for taxpayer should be our priority.”

Infosys was awarded the contract in 2019 after a bidding process that had a budget outlay of Rs 4,241.97 crore. With this project, by 2020 the I-T filing system was supposed to be managed completely by Infosys. The project was to be completed in 18 months and was to be launched after three months of testing.

The new IT portal is expected to bring down the I-T return processing time from current average of 63 days to just one day and also speed up refunds.

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.

As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.

Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.

Digital Editor