India’s Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and US computer maker IBM have announced a US$45 million, 5-year services agreement to modernize CBDT’s IT infrastructure.
Under the contract, IBM will update the CBDT’s three data centres in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai and facilities management services for the Income Tax Department (ITD) across 745 offices in 510 cities in India. The upgrade will see IBM using its high performing System P servers, storage, security systems and a host of other associated technologies and services.
The partnership will further help improve CBDT’s IT systems portfolio and along with other key projects being executed by CBDT, will lead to an increase in its tax base and revenues. This will also make it faster, cheaper and more secure for CBDT to scale up for future demands. The new, flexible systems will also allow CBDT to quickly accommodate new or amended tax legislation and priorities.
“IBM is proud to be associated with this prestigious Mission Mode Project of the Government of India. Government agencies are increasingly reliant on information technology to deliver greater responsiveness and improved quality of service to a wide range of stakeholders,” said Shankar Annaswamy, Managing Director, IBM India Pvt Ltd.
“This partnership brings to the customer IBM’s unique capability in the tax domain having executed similar large projects globally and establishes IBM’s solution strengths in the Public Sector domain. This project will be a reference for both the Government and IBM as a showcase of a public-private partnership model and technology-centric enabler for improving citizen centric services,” added Annaswamy.
Since 1 January 1964 the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has been charged with all matters relating to various direct taxes in India and it derives its authority from Central Board of Revenue Act 1963. The CBDT is a part of Department of Revenue in the Ministry of Finance. The CBDT provides essential inputs for policy and planning of direct taxes in India and at same time is responsible for administration of direct tax laws through Income Tax Department.
