Portal glitch: Govt may deduct payments to Infosys

Infosys, which is managing MCA21, has been facing flak from different quarters on the woes pertaining to the portal, which is used by stakeholders to make electronic filings under the Companies Act.

With problems continuing in using the MCA21 portal, the Corporate Affairs Ministry might deduct payments to IT major Infosys, which expects the situation to be normal in the next few weeks.

Infosys, which is managing MCA21, has been facing flak from different quarters on the woes pertaining to the portal, which is used by stakeholders to make electronic filings under the Companies Act.

Sources said problems being faced in using the portal after its upgradation last month are being sorted out and would take some more time.

There are provisions for deducting payments that are due to Infosys with regard to managing the portal in case there are problems and the ministry might look at that also, sources added.

The system was upgraded to SAP platform and went live on March 27, and since then, there have been some glitches such as difficulty in uploading documents.

"We will continue to monitor the situation and work closely with the ministry. We expect the situation to come back to normal in the next few weeks," an Infosys spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement late Monday while responding to queries related to MCA21 problems.

To a query on whether the ministry has told the company that payment could be withheld if the problems in MCA21 are not resolved, the spokesperson said "it is speculative".

The continuing woes with regard to using MCA21 have attracted flak for Infosys from various quarters. In reference to the MCA21 problems, a few days back, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant had tweeted that "as service provider Infosys has let down the country".

Infosys did not comment on Kant's remark. Subsequent to the new Companies Act, it has upgraded the MCA21 system to run on the SAP platform.

"Post the go-live, as on April 22, over 1,183 Indian companies have been incorporated and 1,647 Limited Liability Partnerships have been registered on the system.

"In addition, since March 27, 2016, there have been more than two lakh filings. Looking at the data for the week gone by in 2015 during the same week, we have had an average of 8,013 filings per day (excluding the weekends) while the current average is around 9,759, an increase of more than 20 per cent," the company said on Monday.

Further, Infosys said that during the first couple of weeks, after migrating to the new system, there were some issues which by and large have been sorted out.

"There were some delays in the incorporation of some companies due to holidays. The ministry has made arrangements to clear the pendency by deploying additional Assessment Officers," it had said.

Against the backdrop of MCA21 glitches, the ministry has extended the deadline for submitting filings without additional fee till May 10.