In an unprecedented attack on IT major Infosys, RSS-affiliated magazine Panchajanya alleged that the Bengaluru-based company may be deliberately trying to destabilise the Indian economy and accused it of helping ‘Naxals, Leftists and tukde tukde gang’. In its cover story titled “Saakh Aur Aaghaat” (Reputation and Harm), the weekly alleged that it was not the first time that Infosys had bungled a government project. “The cover story is about a big corporate (Infosys) whose work’s quality is not up to its reputation. This not only hampers the company’s reputation but also causes inconvenience to crores of people…This kind of role and deliveries create dissatisfaction in society. If Infosys is not involved in socially questionable/propaganda funding, it must come out and state the facts,” Panchajanya Editor Hitesh Shankar said.
But what led to the entire brouhaha?
The Sangh-linked magazine was slammming Infosys for issues surrounding the Goods and Services Tax (GST) portal and the new Income Tax portal of the government of India. The story alleges that both the portals and their problems vis-à-vis public interface and usage have led to a situation where trust in the government and its tax collecting system has been eroded.
The article says that a known software company was given the contract by the government to simplify the system but it has, rather, made a mess of the matter. “Will Infosys provide this same kind of shoddy service for its foreign clients,” asks the article.
Besides questioning Infosys’ work ethic, the Panchajanya article also alleges that there have been several accusations against the company for financing left-wingers, anti-nationalists, media portals and fact checking pages to create unrest in the country.
Reacting to the row, Sunil Ambekar, all-India publicity in-charge of RSS, sought to distance the Sangh from the Panchajanya-Infosys controversy, saying the role of the IT giant in India’s development was critical. Admitting that there could be issues with the portals developed by the company, Ambekar said the magazine was not the official mouthpiece of the RSS and the views should be considered personal.
In August, the Ministry of Finance had summoned Salil Parekh, MD and CEO of Infosys, as the new IT portal continued to see glitches even 2.5 months after the launch. The portal was not accessible from August 21.
The new income tax portal ‘www.incometax.gov.in’, which went live on June 7, had a bumpy start since its launch as it continued to face tech glitches including longer logging in time, inability to generate OTP for Aadhaar validation, non-availability of ITRs for past years. Taking note of the grievances voiced on social media by taxpayers, tax professionals and other stakeholders, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had pointed out the issues to Infosys, calling upon them to address these concerns.
She asked Infosys to work on the portal to make it more humane and user-friendly and expressed her deep concern on the various problems being faced by the stakeholders.
Infosys in 2019 was awarded a contract to develop the next-generation income tax filing system to reduce processing time for returns from 63 days to one day and expedite refunds.
Addressing shareholders’ questions on the matter, Infosys said it is deeply concerned with the inconvenience caused by the technical glitches in the new income tax e-filing portal, and that it is working to resolve all the issues at the earliest. “Infosys is working to resolve the concerns in the new income tax e-filing portal. For the last week, several of the technology glitches, which impacted the performance and stability, have been addressed. And as a result, we have observed lakhs of unique daily users in the portal,” said Infosys Chief Operating Officer Pravin Rao while responding to queries during the AGM.
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