Robert Raja, founder of the 30-year-old Odyssey Technologies, a city-based software company, has released a product ‘Xorkeesign G2C,’ that helps users to digitally sign GST and income tax returns for all classes of assessees.
“We were silent for over a decade as we didn’t have anything major to announce to the world. But today, we have a very good product to speak about,” he told newspersons during its launch.
Xorkeesign G2C is a browser extension that stays invisible until a user accesses the IT, GST or the Ministry of Corporate Affairs portals and then helps users to sign their returns with no additional tool requirement.
“This is different from the default tax filing mechanism where the user installs different signature software for each site with each software having its own pre-requisites, making it a time-consuming exercise,” he said.
Plans for further expansions
There are nearly ten million digital signature certificates issued in India. Some of these are used by web servers and other software but most are meant to be used by individual users, he said.
“We have plans to extend the usage of Xorkeesign G2C to cover all government interfaces like EPF, trademarks registry, DGFT and Customs. We will also simplify tender signing on the government portals and provide enhancements of processes to the State and local government interfaces,” he said.
Before 2000, Odyssey Technologies developed CAD/CAM applications for the apparel industry and was one of the largest data publishers. It also pioneered CD-ROM based publications in the country. Post 2000, it became a product company for public key cryptography and infrastructure, and provided applications for the BFSI, stock broking and government sectors.
Over a billion digital signatures have been carried out using the company’s software, Raja said. “We now have over 500 clients, including HDFC Bank, Indian Army and Airtel Payments Bank,” he said. “We went through many problems and had accumulated debts. The stock price touching nearly ₹800 also created problems and it was shocking to see such a high price for no reason. However, we are now debt free and profitable since 2008.”
On the Bombay Stock Exchange, the company’s share priced reached an all time high of ₹790.35 on March 10, 2000. On Thursday, the stock price closed at ₹57.80, up 0.70 per cent.
Published on
March 17, 2022
