'Narayana Murthy Saar...': Bengaluru CA's '70 hours per week' plea after using Infosys-made ITR portal

Last October, Infosys founder Narayana Murthy, 77, said that youngsters should work 70 hours a week if India wants to compete with economies that have made tremendous progress in the last two to three decades.

Amid the rush to file income tax returns before July 31, a Bengaluru-based chartered accountant (CA) had a humourous take on Infosys founder Narayana Murthy's famous suggestion, prompting young professionals to work 70 hours a week to build the country. Venting on X, Basu (@Basappamv) said that despite working for more than 70 hours a week, he and other chartered accountants have been facing problems with the income tax portal developed by Infosys.

"Narayana Murthy Saar," Basu wrote. "On your advice, we, tax professionals started to work more than 70 hours per week. Ask your Infosys team to work at least one hour per week to smoothly run the income tax portal. Thanks in advance."

Last October, Infosys founder Narayana Murthy said that youngsters should work 70 hours a week if India wants to compete with economies that have made tremendous progress in the last two to three decades.

Narayana Murthy Saar, on your advice we, tax professionals started to work more than 70 Hours per week.

Ask your Infosys team to work at least one hour per week to smoothly run the Income tax portal.

Thanks in Advance #incometaxefiling #incometaxreturn #ITR

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— Basu-CA & RV (@Basappamv) July 13, 2024

The post appeared to have struck a chord with several X users.

"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," commented Ishwar Singh (@IshwarBagga).

Some, however, did point out that Murthy is no longer responsible for the IT giant's daily functioning.

"Dude, Narayana Murthy has passed the mantle and moved on. It's like addressing Bill Gates today when your Windows machine crashes," said Dhruv Rai Puri (@dhruvraipuri).

Technical snags

Other chartered accountants have also reported a technical slowdown in downloading the Annual Information Statement (AIS) and Tax Information Statement (TIS) leading to delays in filing income tax returns.

“There is a general delay in filing tax returns this year,” said Mayank Mohanka, founder director and partner at TaxAaram India.

The delay is blamed on three factors – technical glitches on the portal, the dynamic nature of AIS and the delay in sharing the Form 16 by some companies (despite the statutory June 15 deadline).

When Moneycontrol reached out to a dozen chartered-accountancy firms, they confirmed that the process this year has been adversely affected due to delays in accessing relevant tax information pertaining to individual tax-payers.

“We have been facing difficulty in accessing the AIS and TIS for many clients due to the delay caused by the functionality of the tax-filing portal server,” Ahmedabad-based CA Raju Shah said.