TV Mohandas Pai, the former CFO and board member of Infosys, hit out at a scathing article against the software major, stating that ascribing conspiracy theories to Infosys is the writing of 'crazy minds' and that the company has always stood for India.
His comments came after 'Panchjanya', a magazine linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) accused Infosys of negligence over glitches in the Centre's Goods and Services Tax (GST) portal and the new Income Tax (I-T) portal, and carried trenchant criticism questioning its motives.
"Infosys deserves to be criticised for the portal not working up to the expectations of users. But to call them 'anti-national', and ascribe conspiracy theories to them is the writing of demented, crazy minds. We should all stand up and condemn these sorts of silly statements" Pai told Moneycontrol.
"It is okay to accuse people in politics because all politicians accuse each other, that is part of the normal routine for them. But you can't accuse companies who are working with the Government where some things have gone wrong and ascribe such stupid, silly extremist motives to them" he said.
The RSS-associated weekly magazine's cover story for September titled Saakh Aur Aghaat carried a picture of Infosys founder Narayana Murthy stating the company has ‘messed up’ the execution, The Hindu reported.
Interestingly, RSS has now distanced itself from the article, after it came in for strong criticism.
Sunil Ambekar, all-India publicity in-charge of RSS said in a tweet on September 5 that Panchjanya is not a mouthpiece of the RSS and the article or opinions expressed in it should not be linked with the Sangh. Ambekar also acknowledged the seminal contribution of Infosys in the country's development.
“As an Indian company, Infosys has made seminal contribution in the progress of the country. There might be certain issues with a portal run by Infosys, but the article published by Panchjanya in this context only reflects the individual opinion of the author,” Ambekar said in a tweet in Hindi and English.
The article had questioned if Infosys is negligent in its service to its clients abroad and also that the company won contracts to develop government websites after emerging as the lowest bidder in the tender process.
Reacting to this, Pai said, "Infosys works with global clients and its track record is fantastic. There are very few failures among thousands of projects. Second, it is a highly complex project. Specifications have to be given by the client. There are faults on both sides."
Besides questioning Infosys’ work ethic, the Panchjanya article also alleges that Infosys management is deliberately trying to destabilise the Indian economy, adding that its foundation funds left-wingers, anti-nationalists, etc to create unrest in the country.
"As a democracy, they have the right to fund anyone they think fit. Infosys will never do anything which is anti-national. Infosys over the last 30 years has always stood up for India, got global recognition for India, has always put India's interests first as one of India's finest companies," Pai asserted.
He; however, said both the Income-Tax Department and Infosys have not been transparent and upfront about the glitches plaguing the tax filing portal.
"Infosys should come out with a roadmap and explain to people what has worked, what has not worked, what are the challenges, and when are they going to fix it so there is some transparency. The income tax department should also work with them to communicate."
"For example, I came to know that more than 70,000 queries have been solved. I also know that crores of users have also come on the system and returns have been filed. I think they need to be transparent and give out more information," he said.
In August, the Ministry of Finance had summoned 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 went live on June 7 and ran into glitches the next day. It was flagged by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who met Infosys executives on June 22.
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