Infosys Under Fire for Faulty Tax Filing Portal: Chartered Accountant’s Critique of Narayana Murthy’s Work Week
As the deadline for filing income tax returns on July 31 approaches, Infosys faces renewed criticism over the malfunctioning tax filing portal developed for the Income Tax Department. Chartered accountants across India are grappling with long waiting times due to the subpar government portal. Addressing the issue, a chartered accountant took aim at Infosys co-founder and former CEO, Narayana Murthy.
Referencing Murthy’s remarks on India’s supposed 70-hour work week, the chartered accountant quipped, “Narayana Murthy, following your advice, tax professionals now work over 70 hours a week. We kindly request your Infosys team to allocate just one hour per week to ensure smooth operation of the Income Tax portal. Thank you in advance.”
This post soon raked in thousands of likes. Commenting on it, another person poked fun at Narayana Murthy and wrote, “70 hours also includes struggling with his IT support for 30 hours. He was wise enough to know this and informed the nation. A true nationalist who knows the strength of his development team.”
Someone else observed, “I had a lot of respect for Infosys but after seeing their income tax portal for the last 4 years, I lost all respect for this company. Even after 4 years can’t they provide a smooth user experience? Something seriously wrong somewhere which none of us are aware of.”
An user noted, “That’s the result of 70 hrs a week. Stress and other health issues kick in due to lack of sleep and social life. Productivity goes down the drain. Work-life balance is a thing. If you’re not able to meet your family commitments due to work, there’s an issue.”
Infosys was given the contract to develop the income tax filing portal by the Income Tax Department in 2021. Since then, many have criticised the portal for not working smoothly. In 2021, Deccan Herald reported that the Bombay Chartered Accountants Society wrote an open letter to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, informing her about 56 bugs on the portal. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India also made a presentation before the Finance Minister and representatives from Infosys about the bugs.