IBM has won a US$45 million contract to modernise the information technology infrastructure of India's income tax department.

Under the 5-year contract, IBM will integrate the three data centres of India's Central Board of Direct Taxes, or CBDT, and upgrade services at the department's 745 offices spread across 510 cities.

''The objective is to improve efficiencies by creating a standardised ecosystem through a single database available to CBDT officers across India,'' the statement said.

IBM will also offer solutions that will allow CBDT to quickly accommodate new or amended tax legislation and priorities.

''This partnership brings to the customer IBM's unique capability in the tax domain having executed similar large projects globally,'' said Shankar Annaswamy, IBM's India head.

''This project will be a reference for both the (Indian) government and IBM as a showcase of a public-private partnership model,'' he said

AP