'Govt paid Rs 164.5 cr to Infosys for new I-T portal'

The government paid Rs 164.5 crore to Infosys to build the new income tax e-filing portal between January 2019 and June 2021, Parliament was informed on Monday.

"The contract for Integrated e-filing & Centralized Processing Centre (CPC 2.0) Project was awarded through an open tender published on Central Public Procurement Portal (CPPP) to Infosys Ltd, the Managed Service Provider on the lowest cost basis.

"Since January 2019 till June 2021, the total amount paid to Infosys is Rs 164.5 crore under this project," Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

He said the Union Cabinet on January 16, 2019, gave its approval for this project at an outlay of Rs 4,241.97 crore for a period of 8.5 years, including payout to the Managed Service Provider (MSP), GST, rent, postage and project management cost.

On June 7 this year, the government launched the new income tax e-filing portal as part of the Integrated e-filing and Centralized Processing Centre 2.0 Project.

Chaudhary said taxpayers, tax professionals and other stakeholders have reported glitches in the functioning of the new portal.

Issues experienced by taxpayers pertain to slow functioning of the portal, non availability of certain functionalities or technical issues in functionalities.

"Infosys has acknowledged the technical issues in the functioning of the portal.

"The Income Tax Department is continuously engaged with Infosys to expedite the resolution of any pending issues.

"The project is governed by the contract between the Income Tax Department and Infosys Ltd in respect of any glitches impacting the terms and conditions of the contract," the minister said.

He further said Infosys has informed that technical issues noticed in the functioning of the portal are continuously being resolved.

Some of the initial issues experienced by taxpayers regarding slowness of the portal, non-availability of certain functionalities or technical issues in functionalities have been mitigated.

The tax department is taking corrective measures through Infosys based on feedback from taxpayers, tax professionals and representatives of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), Chaudhary added.

Photograph: Vivek Prakash/Reuters