Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has given Infosys a 15 September deadline to fix issues being faced by the taxpayers on the Income Tax Department's new e-filing portal.

In a meeting with Infosys officials on Monday (23 August), Sitharaman conveyed "deep disappointment and concerns of the government and the taxpayers about the continuing glitches in the e-filing portal of the Income Tax Department even after two and half months since its launch".

The new tax portal executed by the Bengaluru-based Infosys was launched on 7 June and, within hours, started to face issues such as the inability to generate OTP for Aadhaar validation, password generation glitches, failure to link old data for past returns, and problems in filing returns.

Following unavailability of the portal since 21 August, the Finance Ministry on Sunday (22 August) summoned Infosys MD and CEO Salil Parekh to explain why the portal was having glitches even after two and half months of launch.

On Monday, two meetings were held with Parekh and other Infosys representatives in North Block over the unavailability of portal for two consecutive days, reports Indian Express.

FM Sitharaman sought an explanation from Infosys for the repeated issues faced by taxpayers.

In the meeting, it was 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, according to a Finance Ministry statement.

Parekh was also sensitised on the difficulties that the taxpayers were facing and the problems that are arising on account of the delays in the functioning of the portal, the ministry added.

"The Finance Minister demanded that the issues faced by taxpayers on current functionalities of the portal should be resolved by the team by 15 September 2021 so that taxpayers and professionals can work seamlessly on the portal," the ministry said.

Parekh explained that he and his team are doing everything to ensure the smooth functioning of the portal. Further, he said that over 750 team members are working on this project and Pravin Rao, Infosys COO, is personally overseeing this project.

Parekh also assured that Infosys is working expeditiously to ensure a glitch-free experience to the taxpayers on the portal.

IT e-filing portal

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