Srinagar, Sept 30, KDC: Implementation of Jammu and Kashmir’s Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) has been delayed by more than a decade, with only four of the 12 proposed modules fully operational as of March 2023, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has said.
The findings are part of the CAG’s IT audit of the IFMS in Jammu and Kashmir, included in its Report No. 03 of 2026 accessed by news agency Kashmir Dot Com.
The IFMS was envisaged under the Mission Mode Project of the National e-Governance Plan as a comprehensive financial management system aimed at effective financial management and real-time monitoring of the government’s fiscal position. The J&K Government began implementing the system in March 2010.
According to the CAG, as of March 2023, only four out of 12 proposed IFMS modules were fully operational, resulting in a delay of more than a decade in full implementation.
The audit found that the government had also lost central assistance of ₹11.88 crore for implementation of IFMS due to non-revision of the Detailed Project Report in accordance with Government of India instructions and non-achievement of prescribed milestones under the Mission Mode Project-Treasury computerisation guidelines.
The CAG further found that instead of upgrading the State Data Centre for hosting and storage of IFMS applications, the National Informatics Centre hosted all IFMS applications on its Mini Data Centre at Jammu without a supporting backup site, while ₹5.26 crore of funding for the same remained misutilised.
The audit identified shortcomings in data validation in the BEAMS and JKPaySys modules. The absence of client-side and server-side validation, the report said, could lead to submission of erroneous and incomplete data.
The CAG also found a lack of integration between key financial applications, including BEAMS and TreasuryNet, which it said reflected technical inefficiency in ensuring seamless data transfer. This, according to the report, resulted in excess expenditure over allocation and left the system susceptible to unauthorised modifications in bill particulars.
The report also flagged the absence of robust logical access controls, effective password recovery options and transaction logs, creating opportunities for unauthorised access and manipulation of sensitive information.
The system did not provide a complete trail showing who inserted or modified records, while the absence of a comprehensive Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plan exposed the system to risks relating to data integrity and availability in the event of cyber-attacks or operational disruptions.
The CAG further noted that administrative control of IFMS had not been taken over by the Directorate General of Accounts and Treasuries even after more than 12 years.
It also pointed out that User Acceptance Testing had not been conducted, except for the TreasuryNet module in 2011, and that the department had failed to secure certification from the Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification agency.
The CAG recommended establishing a core consultant group, conducting comprehensive business process re-engineering and requirements analysis, strengthening authentication and data-submission controls, integrating IFMS applications and implementing role-based access control and multi-factor authentication.
It also recommended maintaining audit trails for all transactions and data modifications and developing a Disaster Recovery Plan with appropriate backup and recovery strategies. (KDC)
