Learner’s Submission: Online Public Service in India

“The Banking Industry in India is now providing lot of online public services towards the nation.  Lot of public sector banks and private banks are providing the online public services.  The customers of the banks are operating the online fund transfers and other different type of transactions within a fraction of seconds from their suitable places.  So, we can easily say that the banking network has expanded their online public service in a broad manner for the people of India.

On the other hand, people are getting facilitated in transport industry as well in India.  Nowadays, we can easily book our online tickets through rail networks i.e. Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Limited easily.  We are getting the facility of “Tatkal” also for travelling from one place to another.  Apart from this, we are also taking the facility in booking air-tickets electronically i.e., through online public service.  So, we are living in an environment of information technology and getting a huge facility of online public service.

Of late, we are also doing lot of payments through online.  As for e.g., we are paying the electricity bill, telephone bill, gas bills, LIC and other insurance premiums etc. payments through online.  So, in case of payments, we are doing our work very easily without spending our valuable time and energy within a fraction of seconds through online.  So, the online public service has made our life very easier nowadays.

All we know that our independent India is a developing country.  Here we are getting the above facilities through online public service but lot of areas is still there in Government Departments where the online public service has not yet been implemented.  As for example, admission system in lot of educational institutions is still not implemented.  So, as per my opinion, it needs to be implemented at the earliest so that the administrative pressure can be curtailed in comparing with the time frame with accuracy.  Until and unless the departmental people of India is digitally educated, digital implementation is not possible for all departments.  So, we can say the we need the proper infrastructure at first including good human resources.  Otherwise it will not be possible for the Governments also to take proper decision for entire implementation of electronic government.

Though our Governments (State and Central both) are trying to implement their system in electronic form for all departments as much as they can, but still there is some lacuna of digital resources.  Hence, the citizen of India should take responsibility also with Government to make the mission successful for online public service or electronic form for all departments as much as the people can do.” – Tapas Kumar Debnath – West Bengal, India

Learner’s Submission: Online Public Service in Southern India

“I am from Kerala, a state in southern India. The Government of Kerala has established Kerala State Information Technology Mission (KSITM) to promote the e-Governance in the state. KSITM is also the nodal agency of Kerala State Information Technology department and function as a core autonomous body. Enormous e-Governance projects are operational at various levels of Kerala government departments to cater to all sections of society.

I have made use of many online services rendered by the state government and would like to mention about “Akshaya” program which I think is more relevant.

“Akshaya”, is a flagship rural e-governance programme conceived by the government of Kerala. This prestigious program of Kerala state was designed by the Kerala IT Mission in its first phase in 2003 in order to improve e-literacy in underserved areas.  The second phase of the program was designed to provide a platform for government to citizen services through public – private partnership. The entire project is implemented through three-tier Panchayat Raj Institutions and the District Panchayat of the respective districts is the overall coordinator. Committees for the implementation of this project are constituted at various levels i.e. State, District, Block, Municipality, Panchayat, and Ward levels.

The key objective of Akshaya programme is to provide Information and Communications Technology (ICT)  accessibility and services to the reach of the common man and, thus, to bridge the gap between the “Information Rich and the Information Poor” . This programme focus at three types of service delivery models towards achieving sustainability.

The first type of service delivery consists of five core services in the model of ‘Government to Citizens’ which includes (i) imparting training, (ii) disseminating information, (iii) enabling e-transactions, (iv) facilitating e-governance and (v) acts as a communication hub.

Second type of service delivery in Akshaya programme relates to industry/ business in the model of ‘Business to Consumers’. The multipurpose online community technology centre established under this programme, known as “e-kendras” enters in to tie-ups with various companies/business units to facilitate the services provided by them.

The final type of service delivery model is designed with social development perspective and provides space for social activities like children clubs, women self help groups, farmer groups, and unemployed youth forums. The e-kendras are also endeavoring ‘Citizens to Citizens’ services like establishing farmer’s community online network throughout the state of Kerala. This e-network provides access to information on market demand, prices, good agricultural practices, etc. This system also helps the farmers in selling their products directly to the prospective buyers without any intermediaries.

Out of the 33 million citizens in the state of Kerala, nearly 60 percent have been made use of the above services rendered through around 2000 Akshaya centers. It is pertinent to note that the Akshaya centers, run by private entrepreneurs who collectively earns 30 million Indian Rupee per month and generates employment for over 20,000 individuals.  Akshaya programme thus provide a major fillip in rural empowerment as well as in the economic development of the entire state.” – Joemon Joseph – Kerala

Learner’s Submission: Online Public Service in Bangladesh

“Yes, I have used an online service in my country. My name is Javed Hussan and my country is Bangladesh. Bangladesh is a developing country of South East Asia. It has large populations with different problems like poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, gender inequality and corruption. Corruption in the public service sector becomes a common phenomenon in this country. Bribe, nepotism, favoritism and red-tapism are regular activities of government service providers. The Public Administration of Bangladesh is not accountable, transparent, effective and efficient. The traditional administrative system is still alive in the field of service providing. As a result, People of Bangladesh are facing difficulties in time of getting services from the government offices. Use of computer and internet in Bangladesh is very popular and usages of these have increased rapidly recently. The current government is working to provide services to the people via online. To make the administration accountable, transparent, effective and efficient government takes some initiatives for establishing e-government.  Although, the government isn’t able to provide all services to people via online. Few services are providing via online now. Application for the passport of Bangladesh is one of the services which is providing via online. Someone can apply for a passport via online. He or she must fulfill the application form online. The applicant must pay the charge in person. Then he or she must bring it to the passport office for digital fingerprint, signature and photo taking. Police verification occurs before making the passport. When the work of passport making is finished, a sms send to the applicant mobile number to receive his or her passport. The applicant must go to the office where he did apply; it may be a regional passport office or central passport office. This is the process of getting a passport via online in Bangladesh. But it is not fully online based. Applicant can’t give his or her application charge via online, he has to go selected Banks in person or need to send someone to Banks for paying the money or charge. Then the applicant needs to go passport office for giving the finger print. Before giving the finger print an employee of a desk check the printed out application. If applicants don’t give bribe to him, he never let the applicant to go for finger print taking room at first time even everything okay. He wants to harass the applicants for the bribe. After finger print, police verification is essential. Every applicant has to give bribes to the police for the verification. This is mandatory still now. Applicant can’t receive his or her passport within the specific time, which is specified by the government. But who gives bribe him or she can get it within the time-frame or before ending the deadline. Some brokers are still working in the passport office because the application process is still traditional along with the online application system.

So, from the above discussion, it is clear to us that this service is not fully online based. Bangladesh government is trying to provide its services to the people via online. But its capacity and infrastructural current condition don’t support. Application of passport is one of the efforts of the government to provide services to the people via online. Although, it isn’t fully online based but it reduces the harassment of the people to some extent.” – Javed Hussan – Sylhet, Bangladesh

Learner’s Submission: Online Public Service in Greece

“In Greece, the General Secretariat for Information Systems (GSIS) of the Greek Ministry of Economy and Finance has deployed TAXIS, the Greek Taxation Information System. TAXIS, has provided IT support to the central tax authorities, located in Athens, as well as to local tax agencies, located all over Greece, for carrying out tax filing, calculation and payment transactions with citizens and businesses. The TAXIS information system is based on a 3-tier data and application architecture over a virtual private WAN and serves all tax payers and taxation transactions in Greece.

TAXIS services are directly accessible to the public in the form of a web site (www.taxisnet.gr). TAXIS offers a web-based interface from which server-side applications are used to initiate transactions and provide user services. For security purposes, data retrievals for TAXIS transactions are performed upon an off-line maintained replica of involved TAXIS database tables, whereas data updates are replicated off-line to the TAXIS database.

From 2013 all Greek citizens are obliged by law to submit electronically their tax declarations. I use TAXIS from 2005 for submitting my tax declaration. It is a rather usable and user-friendly interface that does not require any special technical knowledge in order to use it. The process of using the TAXIS services demands first of all the registration of the user to TAXIS. The process of registering to TAXIS is the following:

1. The user fills-in an online registration form.
2. Then they visit their local taxation office. The employee checks his application form, his identity card and his VAT number and gives him the credentials in order to connect to TAXIS online

After his registration the user is able to use the TAXIS services. In particular, TAXIS offers 36 different taxation services for citizens and businesses, e.g. submission of income tax declaration, deposit of tax identification number, submission of business activity statement etc.

I, and all Greeks since 2013, use annually the submission of income tax declaration service. The process of submitting the declaration is the following:

1. I sign – in to the TAXIS system through the internet using my personal credential
2. I select the “Income Tax Declaration Service”
3. A Form appears in the screen. My personal data (name, address, VAT number, etc) are already filled-in.
4. I fill-in all the required fields.
5. I select to submit the form
6. The system checks if I filled-in all the required fields. If not, an error message pops up and the system highlights the fields I did not fill-in.
7. The system checks if I put the appropriate data format in each field (e.g. if I put number in a field that requires numbers). If not, an error message pops up and the system highlights the wrong fields.
8. The system suggests revising the form before the final submission.
9. I revise the form and I submit the form.
10. The system calculates the tax and a relevant message appears on the screen.
11. I go to the bank and I pay the tax (or I pay it through an e-banking system).
12. I sign – in to TAXIS and I fill-in the transaction number of the payment
13. An employee checks if the tax has indeed been paid and confirms the transaction
14. I sign – in to TAXIS and I get informed that my tax payment has been officially confirmed.

Closing, it is worth mentioning that TAXIS received the distinguished award for best practice in the European Union’s Conference “From Policy to Practice” in November 2001.” – Eleni Kaliva – Katerini, Greece

 

References:

Gouscos, Dimitris, Panagiotis Georgiadis, and Tassos Sagris. “From Introvert IT Systems to Extrovert e-Services: e-Government as an enabler for e-citizens and ebusiness. A framework of principles.” Proceedings of the Electronic & Business Work 2000 Conference. 2000.

Tsiavos, Prodromos, Steve Smithson, and Spyros Kotyvos. “A path of discontinuity: The TAXIS case as a transition from e-government to e-regulation.” Legal Knowledge and Information Systems. Jurix (2002): 53-62.

http://www.gsis.gr/gsis_site/

http://www.ermis.gov.gr/

Learner’s Submission: E-Government Interoperability in India

“With rapidly increasing information technology infrastructure in the country and across the globe, the government of India has also adopted the IT framework for it proceedings. There are various services launched online under National E-Governance Plan for different Ministries and Departments by State as well as Central Government.

Some of the services which I have used in recent days along with my experience have been provided below:

1. http://irctc.co.in : This is the portal of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Development Corporation under Ministry of Railway, Government of India. It provides services like reservation and cancellation of berth and seats on different trains, booking of government rest house, booking of flight and many more. The best part is even in tatkal hour between 0930 IST to 1230 IST, the website is provided with a light weight version which provides with faster interfaces as the load on the server is heavy in this period. Also this website has very efficient services of payment gateways.  In case of failed transactions and cancellations, the money is reverted back to account in a fixed time frame.
2. http://210.212.23.51/rtps/Home.aspx (http://gad.bih.nic.in ): This is the portal of General Administration Department, Government of Bihar State. It provides regular and tatkal services for Residential, Caste and Income certificates. This has clearly reduced the time required earlier without the online service.
3. https://rtionline.gov.in/ : This is a portal of Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India. It’s an online implementation of Right to Information Act, 2005. Here you can file an RTI or first appeal for the main Ministries and Departments of Government of India located at New Delhi and can also track the progress of application. It has reduced the time wasted for submitting the application and further proceedings through postal services.
4. http://eci.nic.in : This is the portal of Election Commission of India. This website is provided with all ort of services related to Elections including voter registration, filling out nominations for contesting election, search engine for finding the poll information in specific constituencies, etc. It also provides all sorts of claims and objections including the Manifesto of National Parties. It has really provided a convenient way to register as a voter. It earlier took a long time to enrol as voter, which now take just less than a week.
5. https://www.epostoffice.gov.in : This is the portal of Indian Department of Post. It provides services like buying and paying premium of Postal Life Insurance, Electronic Money Transfer, etc. This service is really interesting as it reminds you of premium, status of money transfer or tracking speed post consignments and many more.

Apart from these services which I have used, there are many services like http://incometaxindia.gov.in/ which provide us to fill the income tax and returns online through the portal, http://data.gov.in provides us with the Open Government Data of Indian Government and also involve citizen at all its services and suggestions. In India, a country such big, these are just a few services hosted online and requires more to get online still. With several Acts passed by Central Government in recent few years mandates many of the services to come online for the convenience of the citizens” Suraj Kumar Navi-Mumbai, India

 

Learner’s Submission: Online Voter Registration – A Public Service of Puducherry Union Territory, India

“Puducherry a union territory of India online voter registration is a public online service provide for the people to view the voter identity card status. It is the public service maintained by government of Puducherry

Eligibility for the purpose of enrolment in electoral rolls is.

In India, Indian citizens above 18 years of age, with sound mind should not be of unsound mind (If he/she is of unsound mind and stands declared by a competent court then not eligible to be register as voter), be ordinarily resident in the area from where application is made, should not have been disqualified from voting under provisions of any law relating to corrupt practices and other offences in connection with election that is, 171E, 171F of IPC & Section 8A(1), 125 135, 136(2)(a) of Representation of People Act, 1951 ,with all necessary documents needed for registering can register online if they are residing in the constituency .They can participate and cast their vote for the contestants.

To register the citizens have to log on to http://www.ceopondicherry.nic.in after logging in the home page which is completely user friendly .it has four options:

a) Addition of users to a specific constituency
b) Deletion of users from a specific constituency
c) Modification of existing users data if it needs any modification
d) Transposition from one constituency to another.

Further for any assistance in any of the process or doubt in this process a toll free number is given for the user convenience.
After registration the details are verified in person the date of verification is intimated to the citizen .after verification is done and if the citizen is verified by the official the EPIC (electoral photo identity card) is given to him who can also be used as an identity card for may purposes within the country

Form 6 is needed to be filled by citizen who has attained 18 years of age.
Form 6a if he /she is an non residing Indian.
Form 7for deletion of existing user names.
Form 8if any correction in the voter card details printed.
Form 8a if shifting your place from one poll booth to another poll both within the same constituency.

Uploading the scanned copy of the birth certificate, and residence proof is optional but at the time of verification by the booth level officer.

The birth certificate also can be obtained from the common service centres another public service which brings government services to the people.

For the residence proof either the ration card, or any other proof of residence like driving licence can be provided.

Another salient feature of this website is its multilingual content which helps the users to fill the forms online in their own native language.

A search option is also given for citizens to verify their name has been updated in the electoral rolls in their constituency or not.

The search can be made by either the person name or residing address which was given during the voter registration or by the EPIC card number which is available in the voter card.

From the 2014 plastic voter identity cards are given to voters who are getting registered .its integrity can be verified by checking those cards under ultra violet lights. This move by the department is highly appreciated and welcomed by the people. These electoral rolls are revised every year.” – Prabhu Djeapragassam – Puducherry, India

Learner’s Submission: Les services d’assurance véhicules en ligne, OAVCT – Haïti

“Un projet e-gouvernement est bénéfique que s’il apporte une réelle plus-value aux citoyens. De fait, les technologies de l’information et de la communication (TIC) transforment le fonctionnement des individus et modifient leurs comportements dans leur vie quotidienne. De plus en plus, les citoyens ont accès aux outils technologiques, particulièrement Internet, pour communiquer, s’informer, se former, se divertir et même travailler. Il est donc normal qu’ils s’attendent à ce que leur gouvernement utilisent les canaux modernes de communication pour leur fournir les services dont ils ont besoins (G2C – Government to Citizens). A cet effet, L’OAVCT (Office d’Assurance Véhicules Contre Tiers) a récemment lancé son service d’achat et de renouvellement de polices d’assurance en ligne. Comment cette initiative est-elle accueillie ? Comment fonctionne le service ? Et répond-il vraiment aux besoins des citoyens haïtiens ?

Faisons remarquer que l’assurance véhicule est obligatoire en Haïti et que les conducteurs d’automobiles risquent une contravention s’ils sont surpris en train de circuler sans cette police d’assurance. Toutefois, le gouvernement est la seule autorité à fournir ce service et les organismes ne sont pas déconcentrés. Ce qui implique que les citoyens doivent se déplacer et parfois perdre toute une journée pour renouveler leurs polices d’assurance. Le service est complexe car il faut faire une expertise du véhicule avant l’achat ou le renouvellement. Ce qui a entraîné une affluence dans les bureaux de l’OAVCT et surtout de la frustration chez le citoyen qui veut être en règle avec l’Etat. Alors comment les nouveaux services fournis en ligne sont-ils accueillis ?

Pour ceux qui savent utiliser un ordinateur et ont un accès Internet c’est un ouf de soulagement. Tout d’abord parce que certains organismes gouvernementaux sont perçus comme étant inefficaces en ce qui concerne les services offerts. Donc le citoyen était réticent à se rendre dans les locaux de l’OAVCT. Certains ont préféré passer par un intermédiaire même si, en final, le service leur coûtait plus cher. L’assurance en ligne vient donc réconcilier ces citoyens avec cette administration et lui donne une meilleure image. De plus, l’OAVCT a fait un travail promotionnel (Radio-Télé) efficace, attirant l’attention des citoyens sur ses nouveaux services en ligne.

Sur le portail web de l’OAVCT www.e-oavct.gouv.ht, le citoyen peut 1) renouveler sa police d’assurance, 2) faire une requête d’expertise, 3) consulter son compte pour vérifier le statut d’une requête et l’historique des transactions et 4) effectuer les paiements pour les services. L’accès aux services suppose que le citoyen crée préalablement un compte avec son numéro d’identification fiscale. Ensuite il se connecte et choisit le service qui l’intéresse. Dans le cas d’un renouvellement par exemple, il fournira les informations relatives à l’ancienne police d’assurance, choisira la méthode de livraison et paiera le montant requis. S’il a choisi une livraison à domicile, la nouvelle police lui sera livrée par un agent qui récupérera l’ancienne. Dans le cas contraire il n’aura qu’à passer à l’agence désignée pour récupérer les documents. Dans certains cas, le service coûte plus cher. Mais le prix à payer est de loin insignifiant aux coûts de déplacements et d’attente.

Les services en ligne de l’OAVCT sont un exemple de projet e-gouvernement qui apporte une valeur ajoutée tant sur le plan économique que social. Non seulement il soulage le citoyen en lui évitant des déplacements inutiles et une perte de temps, il permet aussi au gouvernement de collecter plus d’argent car celui-là est devenu plus enclin à renouveler sa police d’assurance, certaines contraintes étant éliminées. De plus, c’est une entreprise privée qui a conçu le système en collaboration avec les managers de l’administration. Ce qui montre bien l’importance du partenariat public-privé comme stratégie de développement des projets e-gouvernement. Finalement, notons que cette initiative a permis la création de nouveaux services dans les cybercafés au profit de ceux qui ne maîtrisent pas les technologies de l’information et de la communication. Le projet est donc source d’opportunités et pourrait être répliqué dans d’autres administrations.” – Frantz Pierre-Louis – Carrefour, Haiti

Learner’s Submission: e-Governance initiative of the Ministry of Company Affairs of India – MCA21

“I have used several online Services like Passport Seva Portal (www. passportindia.gov.in), MCA 21(http://www.mca.gov.in/MCA21/), RTI Online (http://rtionline.gov.in/), Income Tax E-Filing (https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/) etc. In India e- Governance was initiated by National e-Governance Plan of Indian Government which was take on May 18, 2006. Several Central Government/ State Governments have/ had installed online public services. Those services are categorized as Citizens Services, Business Services and Government Services

Here I am explaining how MCA21 works.

MCA 21(http://www.mca.gov.in/MCA21/): MCA21 Project, the e-Governance initiative of the Ministry of Company Affairs (MCA). MCA21 is an innovative eGovernance initiative that aims at continuously repositioning Ministry of Company Affairs (MCA) as an organization proficient of fulfilling the aspirations of its stakeholders in the 21st century. For any program to be outcome-based, a paradigm shift in the service delivery is inevitable. A Service Centric Approach by the Government is the principal driving factor to the transformation.
The bottom line of this unique initiative is the improved speed and certainty in the delivery of MCA services. This improvement is primarily enabled through the mechanism of electronic Filing (e-Filing) for the services and back office automation by harnessing the right technology enablers.
The MCA conceptualized the MCA 21 initiative, which included the following:

Digitizing about 45 million paper documents in MCA’s archives
Setting up a data center
Building the computing infrastructure
Setting up 52 facilitation centers
Designing the application software
Setting up secure electronic payment gateways

In order to carry out e-filing on MCA21 we have facility to download the eform and fill it in an offline mode. Every form has the facility to pre-fill the data available in MCA21 system.

We have to first get the paper attachments scanned and saved as a soft copy in PDF format. Then attach the same in the attachment section of the eForm by clicking the appropriate ‘Attach’ button. An e-form can be signed by the authorized signatory/ representative using the Digital Signature Certificate (DSC). Signature box in the e-form to affix the digital signature. To avoid increase in size of the e-form beyond permissible limit of 2.5 MB, always affix the DSC using the ‘Sign and Save As’ option.

Once the e-form is filled we would need to validate the e-form using Pre-scrutiny button. We would then have to affix the relevant digital signatures and save the form. We would need to be connected to the internet to carry out the pre-fill and pre-scrutiny functions. The filled up e-form as per relevant instruction kit have to be uploaded on the MCA21 portal. On successful upload, the Service request number would be generated and we would be directed to make payment of the statutory fees. The step by step process is given below. Once the payment has been made the status of my payment and filing status can be tracked on the MCA21 portal by using the ‘Track Your Payment Status’ and ‘Track Your Transaction Status’ link respectively.

The MCA-21 project rolled out the nearly paperless system across the country; it makes the process faster and smoother.” – Rupak Ghosh – West Bengal, India

Learner’s Submission: Online Admission at Universities of Bangladesh

“As a developing country Bangladesh is entering into digital world. Online admission process is a new addition of ICT and Education sector. Public and private universities, colleges have started online admission process. Before this system students have to visit place to place to collect forms, money receipts. Online admission process has reduced these hassles.  Students can do these jobs from home now.

• Submission of Online Application

Firstly, an applicant shall have to submit a properly filled online application form via the online submission system available through the University/college website within the stipulated time period. A recently taken passport size color photograph and the signature (either scanned or photographed) shall have to be uploaded (preferably in the JPG format) at the appropriate place of the submission form. No illegibility or deformation is allowed in the photograph and signature.

A “Preview of Application” page of the duly completed application form with photograph and signature will appear when the “Preview” button is clicked. Information given in the application form can be edited, if necessary, by clicking the “Update” button. The corrected application form with clear photograph and signature can then be submitted finally by clicking the “Submit” button.

The successful submission of the application form will generate a confirmation page where an Application Serial number and other relevant instructions will be given. A PDF version of the “Receipt of Application” will be generated automatically when the “Download Receipt of Application” button  of the confirmation page is clicked. The applicant should take a print out of this “Receipt of Application” and keep it safe.

• Payment of Application Fee through SMS

The applicant must pay the application fee through SMS according to their respective group. The applicant shall have to go to the SMS option of the Teletalk (Government Mobile Operator) pre-paid mobile service and follow the procedure given in website.

If the SMS has been sent correctly, a return SMS message with the name of the applicant, and an identification number (PIN) will be sent to the Teletalk mobile from which the SMS has been sent and also to the applicant’s mobile number that has been provided in the application form. In this return message, the applicant will also be asked to proceed with the payment.

• Collection of Money Receipt

If an applicant sends the fee for application, he/she can download a PDF version of the money receipt by clicking the “Download Money Receipt” link at the website and then print it.

• Submission of Necessary Documents by Applicants
• Collection of Admit Card: After declaring the list of eligible applicants for the admission test, an eligible applicant can download the admit card for the Admission Test from the website by clicking the link “Download Admit Card.

The online admission system has saved student’s time and cost. The use of  ICT in different sectors initiating new era in Bangladesh.” – Khan Md. Hasanuzzaman – Dhaka, Bangladesh

Learner’s Submission: Online Tax Payment Services Offered by Banks in India

“In this article, I will discuss about the online tax payment services being offered by various banks in India.

Banks play a very important role in facilitating the various E-Governance initiatives of the Government of India and various State Governments. In various Government Schemes like  Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), Scholarship schemes for Students , pension schemes, LPG-subsidy schemes etc., the money is transferred directly (by the Government) to the bank account of the concerned beneficiary, through “Direct Benefit Transfer”. Such direct transfers eliminate the middle-men thereby enhancing transparency & effective governance, delivered by the Government directly to the citizens.

The Indian Banking sector has witnessed substantial growth during the last 2 decades. With the financial reforms during early 1990s and subsequent technology adoption by banks have led to Banks’ significant growth.  The new private banks with latest technologies like Core Banking Solution (CBS) from day one have prompted the “not so tech-savvy” public sector banks to adopt technologies.  With the Reserve Bank of India’s initiatives for greater technology adoption by banks, all major banks have now implemented CBS in their Banks. All major public sector banks now have technology infrastructures comparable to that of the private counter-parts. In India, today, all major private and public sector banks offer almost all technology-enabled services like ATM, Phone Banking(24×7 Call Centre), Internet Banking, Mobile Banking, National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT), Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), Cheque Truncation system etc.

All major banks (public as well as private) in India now offer Internet Banking. Through Bank’s Internet banking, banks facilitate the online tax payment, in which the tax payer directly pays (online) the various taxes to the government. That too, with the comfort of sitting at home/office at any time convenient to the tax payer. Gone are those days when the tax payers had to stand in long queues for paying the taxes. Thanks to the Online Tax Payment Services!

Online Tax Payment Services by Banks

How it works:

The Government has arrangements with various major banks (public and private) in India for online tax payment services. The taxes include direct taxes (Income Tax, TDS, Corporation Tax, Security Transaction Tax, Estate Tax, Wealth Tax, Gift Tax, Cash transaction Tax, Fringe Benefit Tax etc.) and Indirect taxes (Customs, Excise, Service Tax), various State Government Taxes like Value Added Tax (VAT), Entertainment Tax etc.

Depending upon the arrangements made by the respective tax authority with the particular bank, there can be 2 models of how a tax payer can pay his taxes online.

Model-1: Through the Web Site of the Tax Authority.

Under this Model, the tax payer visits the web site (URL) of the concerned tax authority (example, for income tax, the tax payer visits http://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/). He selects/inputs appropriate options/values/amount, along with the choice of the “Bank” through which he wants to pay the tax. Depending upon the Bank selected, he is redirected to the respective Bank’s Internet banking site where he is asked to enter his Internet Banking login Id & password. The tax payer inputs his internet banking login id & password (additional authentication like Transaction password, One Time Password, Random number generated by a Token etc. may be required as per authentication procedure of the Bank).  On successful authentication, the transaction gets completed with instant debit of the amount from the tax payer account with the bank followed by credit of the amount to the account of the tax authority with the Bank. The tax payer also gets instant Acknowledgement (called e-receipt) of the tax payment.

Model-2: Through the Web site of the tax payer’s Bank.

Under this Model, the tax payer visits the Internet banking web site of his Bank (i.e. the Bank in which the tax payer maintains his account). For example, if the tax payer is having his bank account with Oriental bank of Commerce, he visits OBC Internet Banking web site https://www.obconline.co.in and logs in using his OBC Internet Banking login id & password (additional authentication like Transaction password, One Time Password, Random number generated by a Token etc. may be required as per authentication procedure of the Bank). Then the user (tax payer) selects appropriate options for the tax to be paid, amount, etc. The transaction gets completed with instant debit of tax payer’s account with the bank followed by instant credit of the amount to the account of the tax authority with the Bank. The tax payer also gets instant Acknowledgement (called e-receipt) of the tax payment.” – Srihari Subudhi – New Delhi, India