Infosys gears up for GST rollout

Infosys, India’s second largest IT services company which won the Rs 1,380-contract for building robust technology backbone for rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), has made it clear that it is ready to deploy the platform in a seamless manner.

Raghu Cavale, Infosys senior vice president and head India business, in an interaction with DH said the company has made the platform ready for deployment. “We have a team of around 200 engineers working on the project and it is ready for the deployment once we get the permission,” he said.

He added that the platfom will have a trial run soon and that he already had a preliminary discussion with the GST Steering Committee in the Finance Ministry last week on the various aspects of the central and state agencies co-ordination.

The government incorporated Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) as a Section 25 (not-for-profit), non-government, private limited company on March 28, 2013. The central and state governments have only 49% shares in GSTN.

The IT system for GSTN will have first-layer with a portal that will help in the uniform registration, return, refund and payment system in the tax payment for almost 65 to 70 lakh taxpayers in the country.

The registration process for GSTN can be done through PAN, mobile or Aadhaar numbers. Once registered, it helps customers begin the migration of their data from the existing VAT/excise/service tax.

The system will also help in assessing and auditing tax returns and filings. Infosys in 2012 won a contract to maintain and develop a website for the government’s corporate affairs ministry for more than six years. The value of the contract was $50 million. 

All business units with more than Rs 10 lakh will have to register with the GSTN. They  have to register on the portal within three days after applying for registration. The government passed the GST Bill in Parliament recently with the passage of the constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill.