COVID-19: Infosys Working at Full Pace on GSTN Enhancement Project

Infosys is highly mobilised on the GST Network enhancement project, and work is progressing at a full pace even as a large segment of its employees operate remotely amid the nationwide lockdown, its CEO Salil Parekh said. Infosys manages the GST Network (GSTN) portal which provides the backbone infrastructure for the Goods and Services Tax (GST). From the inception of GST, taxpayers are facing problems due to GSTN portal glitches.

Infosys CEO Salil Parekh also said that they are extremely prepared, and working very closely with the GST Council. The Chairman Mr Nandan Nilekani met the CEO and put in place a comprehensive plan that’s also being established internally. Clearly, there are some restrictions on the procurement of some hardware and, as they get closer to July, they are going to have a sense in terms of workforce deployment on that basis.

He said that work is progressing at full pace, even in the situation of lockdown, which forced most Infosys workers to work remotely. It’s at full speed, even under this remote working situation. And they are making every effort to make sure they are conducting all those discussions.

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Last month, the Finance Ministry wrote to the Infosys saying that some of the issues highlighted as early as 2018 are still unresolved. Also, these failures month after month leads to genuine taxpayers “became frustrated” and asked the Bengaluru-based company to include a roadmap for fast error resolution on the GSTN portal.

Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of Infosys, then made a comprehensive presentation to the GST Council on the transition to a better GST network infrastructure and the need for hardware to improve the ability to resolve infrastructure-related issues that taxpayers face in the IT sector. The Council had agreed on the need for more professional workforce and better equipment to increase efficiency and had provided time to upgrade the GSTN design until July.

Parekh said that owing to the coronavirus pandemic, about 93 per cent of Infosys workers are now working remotely in the lockdowns. Speaking about bringing employees back to the premises, Parekh said the business should have about 5 and 10 per cent of its employees on-premises as lockdowns begin and ease off. He further noted that the company is pursuing a similar strategy at some of the centres outside India.

For any clarifications/feedback on the topic, please contact the writer at dvsr.anjaneyulu@cleartax.in