Nilekani to head FinMin's technical advisory group

The government today set up a committee headed by the UIDAI Chairman Nandan Nilekani to advise it on various IT initiatives taken in the areas of income tax, new pension system and the proposed GST.

The finance ministry today announced the constitution of the Technology Advisory Group for Unique Projects (TAGUP) which will have six other members, including Sebi Chairman C B Bhave.

The group will submit its report to the ministry within six months on the roadmap to roll out five projects-- tax information network (TIN), the new pension system (NPS), the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), the expenditure information network (EIN) and goods and service tax (GST).

"These five projects alone have immense transformative power and change the country's growth trajectory. The challenge is to find ways to rapidly roll out these complex systems, to achieve and sustain high levels of reliable performance," the Finance Ministry said in a statement, adding the constitution of the TAGUP is an effort in this direction.

The group will suggest roadmap to roll out these systems and any changes in legal and regulatory requirements for this purpose. Besides, the group has also been asked to suggest technology architecture, including the possibility of introducing open protocols, for implementing these projects.

The seven-member body will also advise the ministry on security challenges of malicious attacks on the system.

Nilekani, one of the founders of IT giant Infosys, had left his job last year to join the government in its ambitious plan of rolling out a 16-digit unique identification number to all citizens.

While TIN was set up to improve tax administration and check tax evasion, NTMA is an autonomous body set up to carry out debt and cash management, besides management of contingent and other liabilities of the Centre and the states.