New Delhi, Jul 26 (IANS): Amid issues with the newly-developed Income Tax e-filing portal, the government on Monday said that Infosys has been paid a total of Rs 164.5 crore under the project.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, said that the government has launched a new income tax e-filing portal as part of the Integrated E-filing and Centralised Processing Centre 2.0 Project.

He said that the Union Cabinet gave its approval on January 16, 2019 for this project at an outlay of Rs 4,241.97 crore for a total period of 8.5 years, including payout to the Managed Service Provider (MSP), GST, rent, postage and project management cost.

"Since January 2019 till June 2021, the total amount paid to M/s Infosys Ltd is Rs. 164.5 crore under this project," Chaudhary said.

Noting that taxpayers, tax professionals and other stakeholders have reported glitches in the functioning of the new portal, regarding issues experienced by tax payers pertain to slowness of the portal, non-availability of certain functionalities or technical issues in functionalities, he said: "Infosys has acknowledged the technical issues in the functioning of the portal."

The minister said that the Income Tax Department is continuously engaged with Infosys to expedite the resolution of any pending issues.

Noting that the project is governed by the contract between the Income Tax Department and Infosys Ltd in respect of any glitches impacting the terms and conditions of the contract, he said Infosys has informed that technical issues noticed in the functioning of the portal are continuously being resolved.

Some of the initial issues experienced by tax payers regarding slowness of the portal, non-availability of certain functionalities or technical issues in functionalities have been mitigated. The Department is taking corrective measures, through Infosys, based on feedback from taxpayers, tax professionals and representatives of the ICAI, he said.