Even after creating chaos in Company Registry & GSTN, Infosys bags Govt. contract worth Rs.4242 crores for Income Tax processing project

Infosys has mastered the art of getting all critical contracts from the Government, regardless of their past performance

By
Team PGurus
-
Infosys has mastered the art of getting all critical contracts from the Government, regardless of their past performance
Infosys has mastered the art of getting all critical contracts from the Government, regardless of their past performance

A reliable source familiar with the matter said that:
1. GST was not INFY’s problem because many changes were introduced at the very last minute
2. MCA project was taken over from the previous vendor and INFY found that there was very little documentation and INFY had to do it from the beginning.
3. INFY has been maintaining CPC site for the past 10 years and it has been running smoothly.

Union Cabinet’s decision to select Infosys as a developer and allot Rs.4242 crores-worth project of creating Income Tax’s Centralised Processing Unit has raised many eyebrows in the Information Technology (IT) sector as well as others, considering the chaos created by Infosys in developing the system for Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA)’s company registry. Many are wondering why Government again selected Infosys, for it does not have a great record of executing projects for the govt.

Every player in the IT sector wonders how like a cat always landing on its feet, Infosys manages to bag contract after contract.

People in the know feel that this is simply due to the “rapport” of Infosys founding-partner Nandan Nilekani with the NDA Government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Every company owner in this country has experienced pain when MCA registry contract passed hands from Tata Consulting Services (TCS) to Infosys. TCS had done a good job of it till mid-2014. Once Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant lost his cool and blasted Infosys for ditching the administration of MCA’s Company Registry[1].

GSTN Snafu

Infosys, which won the GSTN contract by outsmarting L & T InfoTech was a real pain for every taxpayer of GST. When GST went live on Jul 1, 2017, the software was undercooked and as a result, the country suffered. Even basic problems in uploading were not rectified by Infosys, for which it bagged a hefty contract of more Rs.3500 crores[2].

The question that keeps cropping up is why this government keeps rewarding shoddy implementation by Infosys? And what remedial actions were done by Infosys to fix these flaws? Did the government fine them? The Modi-led Government ended up being at the receiving end of the chaos and faults of software implementation in MCA and GSTN.

The new project given to Infosys is worth Rs.4242 crores. It concerns every taxpaying person and is bigger than GSTN and MCA. It would help if the government comes out and transparently reveal the reasons for granting this contract after their continued failures.

The government said on Wednesday said IT major Infosys will develop the next-generation income tax filing system for Rs 4,241.97 crores which will cut down the processing time for returns to one day from the current 63 days and expedite refunds. The Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave its “approval to expenditure sanction of Rs 4,241.97 crores for Integrated E-filing and Centralised Processing Centre 2.0 Project of the Income Tax Department”, Union minister Piyush Goyal said.

Briefing media about the decision, he said the processing time at present for Income Tax Return (ITR) is 63 days and it will come down to one day after implementation of the project. Goyal said the project is expected to be completed in 18 months and will be launched after three months of testing. Infosys, he said, has been selected to implement the project after the bidding process.

Every player in the IT sector wonders how like a cat always landing on its feet, Infosys manages to bag contract after contract. BJP had no qualms adopting Nilekani’s Aadhaar Project, implemented during the Congress regime, even without any proper legislation. What is interesting is that even the Opposition (Congress) is silent on Nilekani’s (Nandan Nilekani was Congress candidate in 2014 Lok Sabha elections) firm’s failures while executing projects that affect the public at large. Even MSM is soft on Nilekani – could it be because he is running a trust for giving good scholarships to journalists? Nilekani and controversial historian Ramchandra Guha run a trust named as The New India Foundation, which awards good money to many journalists for the past decade[3].

References:

[1] Infosys faces NITI Aayog CEO’s ire for MCA portal glitches – Apr 23, 2016, Business Standard

[2] The GSTN Saga – The pain of doing business in India – Sep 17,2017, PGurus.com

[3] Why does the Guha-Nilekani-led NGO fund journalists? Nov 6, 2016, PGurus.com

Team PGurus
Team PGurus
We are a team of focused individuals with expertise in at least one of the following fields viz. Journalism, Technology, Economics, Politics, Sports & Business. We are factual, accurate and unbiased.
Team PGurus
Latest posts by Team PGurus (see all)

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

8 COMMENTS

  2. Sir , when it come to Govt and pvt Indian MNCs , it’s a charity and colluded looting . Whether it’s DRDO giving subcontract to or other Dept’s giving contract companies like like Infosys ,TCS ,L n T, Tech Mahindra, Reliance . If you see contract terms they are very tough and seems like drdo and govt have strict grip only to manage bribe n profit for vendor.

  3. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. If the basket size and its capacity to bear the burden is not an issue. If two or more baskets are used load would be evenly distributed. Can it come under the purview of competition law of India?

  4. In Modi government’s parlance it is called “ease of doing business”!!
    Even after creating chaos in Company Registry & GSTN, Infosys bags Govt. contract worth Rs.4242 crores for Income Tax processing project. We have under gone pain for six months, call center did not respond and officers were confused to dish our clarifications.But many paid “penalty” for ………..not aware of Infy paying penalty on their disastrous performance bring down the image of the government. Of course NDA-Non disclosure agreement comes into play!!

    As on date six crores tax payers are paying taxes.After 18+3 months Infy may catch up with Kapil Sibal’s ZERO…….tax payers……!!!
    In my experience TCS has a better team than Infy.
    I feel that GOI selected Infy on L1…lowest bidder basis.
    Bidding is bad. E-tendering is preferable.
    Nandan’s tom foolery is amazing.

  5. This post has something to say. But doesn’t have the data to make complete analysis.
    Should have mentioned, who were in Fray, why the lost, how companies make false promise and fail.
    On what clauses other bidders were out smarted?
    Is there a penalty clause for failing to implement well in time.
    These data have to be provided as well.

  6. The post is like some road side rumour mill. If a proper analysis is to be made it should be shown if there was a transparent bid and who were the players who bid for it. Infosys doing the job is not necessarily bad. Can cdot or any govt organistion do it? I guess not. It would have been lovely if they could have though. So why must PGurus think Tcs can be better and not Infosys ? Without facts this is rumour mongering. I see PGurus sliding into this territory too often and tow a line by a certain politician who is no doubt brilliant but also known to have many personal axes to grind. It is not worthy of being a mouth piece for some political witch-hunting unless there are facts to back claims of excessive payment or favouritism etc

    • This was published in 2019 and their assessment about Infosys is completely true after two years. The Income tax portal is as bad as shit. And biggest thing is, none is asking the justification for a hefty some of 4200 crore rupess or almost 500 million dollar for such a portal? Have other mid or small size bidders were given the oportunity? Because I believe this could be achieved for much less than that. BJP government is no saint, they are more corrupt than Congress, they are more profession though. They keep everyone together, keep things in legal manner, not including the government agencies but corporate and share market. Only if you analysing each and every deal they made in last 7 years, you will find deep rooted corruption everywhere. But they keep their books clean.

  7. Seems Nandan Nilekani is able to fool alll. MCA and GSTN project of Infosys is nothing but user non-friendly and disaster. Now they again got contract for developing in Income Tax. Why not Govt try best firms like TCS, Wipro & L&T. I think many US guys lobby for Infosys

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here