FM Nirmala Sitharaman says Panchjanya article on Infosys was 'not right'

Finance Nirmala Sitharaman said the article published in RSS-associated Panchjanya, which called IT major Infosys 'anti-national', was "not right".

According to Sitharaman, who spoke to CNN-News18, "That wasn't right. I think they have also made a statement distancing themselves from whoever wrote it. I think that's not called for and rightly people have withdrawn from it. It wasn't right at all,"

Commenting on the 'anti-national' statement, Sitharaman said that -  while users have been affected due to the glitches - the government and Infosys were working together.

"I had called them twice and also drew the attention of Nandan Nilekani. They are working together with us and are also being helped by the Institute of Chartered Accountants. We have also brought in some tax experts to work with them. I am hopeful that Infosys will give us the product," she said during the interview.

Sitharaman said that the government had a lot of expectations over the new portal and many of which had glitches.

"We are working together and we are confident that it will work out," she added.

Infosys I-T portal

The Bengaluru-based IT major has facing criticism for glitches in the I-T portal since the time it was launched on June 7, 2021.  The company executives have met the Finance Minister twice, in June and August, to address the glitches.

The company has now been given time till September 15 to resolve the issues.

Infosys was awarded the contract in 2019 to develop the new I-T portal, replacing the old one, in a bid to reduce the processing time from 63 days to one day for a total outlay of Rs 4200 crore. The idea was to have a taxpayer-friendly portal that was simple in design and use, and expedite refunds, which has become a running joke now with the portal inaccessible more often than not.

Infosys 'Anti-national'

This comes days after Panchjaya, the RSS-associated weekly magazine, carried its September cover story titled Saakh Aur Aghaat that had a picture of Infosys founder Narayana Murthy stating, the company has ‘messed up’ the execution of I-T portal, according to a Hindu report.

The magazine accused the IT major of negligence over glitches not just in the new I-T portal but also its GSTN portal. Besides questioning Infosys’ work ethic, the Panchjanya article also alleged 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.

This garnered support from former Infosys executives such as TV Mohandas Pai.

"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.

Pai further explained that while it was okay to accuse people in politics because all politicians accuse each other. However, one cannot accuse companies who are working with the government, he said.