From the desk of Chairman, CBDT S.N. 15/March 8,2011
Out sourcing of data entry work at CPCs
The CPC business model has emerged only after prolonged deliberations, BPR study, various decisions of Government & ground realities. CPC is a major administrative reform which aims to add capacity, enhance efficiency & provide taxpayer services of international standards. However, apprehensions have been raised by staff unions about outsourcing of data entry work in CPCs. To address their concerns, CBDT considers it necessary to bring to the knowledge of all the members of the income tax family the following:
a. CPC business process was approved by Union Finance Minister on 18/01/2008, which included:
“CPC would follow a partly outsourced model wherein logistics of return movement, imaging, data entry and final storage would be outsourced….”
b. BPR study recommended outsourcing of non core functions which were accepted by CBDT on 02/04/2008 in its meeting no. 07/2008.
“Recommendations
It is also recommended that certain activities such as those of facilitation centers, return data scanning and digitization, call center, record management in offsite storage etc to be considered for out sourcing
Accepted.”
c. Business model of CPC was examined by the Technical Evaluation Group and was approved by F.M. on 29/09/2008.
d. Union Cabinet approved CPC Bengaluru project & its model on 04/02/2009.
e. Views of the present Finance Minister
F.M. has emphasized and requested Department to evolve PPP model for non –core activities and concentrate on core functions.
ü Speech of Hon’ble F.M. on 29/05/2010 while inaugurating CPC
“Bulk processing of returns and redesigning the procedures in a centralized facility was determined to be the most efficient way to increase the processing capacity of the Department. The CPC project at Bengaluru was approved by the Union Cabinet at a total cost of Rs 255 Crore over a 5-year period. It should be endeavour of the Department to achieve economies of scale by automating non-core processes in partnership with the corporate sector and to attain operational excellence by high quality and service compliance levels. I am sure Department would save valuable skilled manpower by using technology intensive initiatives like the CPC for non-core areas. The skilled manpower so available can be used for deepening and widening of the tax base and also for investigations of cross border transactions, which have high revenue potential.”
ü Speech Of The Hon’ble Finance Minister During The 26th Annual Conference Of CCITs / DGITs At New Delhi
ü
“A number of services offered by the Department have become technology driven. It may not be possible to deliver the services of desired quality in the existing structure of tax administration. CBDT may come out with a new structure, which leads to faster adoption of technology and innovation. The CBDT may, therefore, consider hiving off its technology driven taxpayer services to a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), which can better deliver such services in the public-private-partnership mode. This will lead to innovation in delivery of services to taxpayers and also involvement of public in delivering the services.”
ü FM’s Speech to mark 150 Years of Income Tax in India
“A lot more remains to be done. The Department needs to reinvent itself to meet the challenges of the next 50 years. The Department should concentrate on its core functions of data mining, risk profiling and risk-assessment; tax enforcement and recovery; dispute resolution and grievance redressal; taxpayer awareness and education; and other administrative, judicial, audit and Parliament-related functions.
e. Data Entry in the Department
(i) Department is not able to digitize returns on its own. Outsourcing of data entry started ever since Department started processing of returns on system. More than Rs 14 Crs per annum is now spent on data entry on out-sourced personnel all over the country:
| FY 08-09 | FY 09-10 | FY 10-11 |
| Rs 9.9 Cr | Rs 12.19 Cr | Rs 14.63 Cr |
(ii) Even after data entry by outsourced resources, all returns are not getting digitized & processed on system. For AY 08-09, only about 2 crore paper returns could be processed on system and there is no visibility of remaining returns. Such returns escape scrutiny selection also.
(iii) DT-01 is a classic example of failure to digitize in-house. This was the first pilot CPC set up with in- house data entry and with no out sourcing. However, it failed and has resorted to out sourcing to get over the crisis. In the DT-01 center, willingness of staff to be posted has always been a challenge. Typical pattern of processing has been that only 5-10% of processing of returns is done by December, and the processing rate increases sharply only after resorting to out-sourcing.
(iv) More than 2.3 Crs paper returns of AY 09-10 were carried forward to current year & are yet to be entered. Even after almost 21 months, 30 lac returns including more than 4.5 lac refund cases are still pending to be processed.
(v) Delayed Returns processing leads to delayed refunds causing taxpayers’ grievances & giving bad name to the Deptt. We also face adverse criticism from various committees of parliament on this issue.
CONCLUSION:
i. Data entry of all carried forward & current returns in stipulated time frame is impossible without the out-sourcing of data entry of paper returns at CPC.
ii. Out sourcing of data entry work at CPC is as per the approval of Union Cabinet & Union Finance Minister
iii. It is a non- core and non- critical function whose outsourcing is as per the policy of the Government.
All the members of the income tax pariwar are requested to work whole heartedly & make CPCs a resounding success.
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