Rs 1,435 crore PAN 2.0 project gets CCEA approval as business identifier

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Monday approved the PAN 2.0 project of the Income Tax department with a budget of Rs 1,435 crore.

 

Briefing reporters, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that a common business identifier, instead of multiple numbers such as PAN, TAN, and TIN, has been a long-standing demand of the business community. “The IT backbone will be completely upgraded. A PAN data vault system will be made mandatory, ensuring that authorities handling PAN data keep it secure,” he added.

 

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had proposed the idea in her FY24 Budget speech.

 

“For business establishments required to have a Permanent Account Number (PAN), the PAN will be used as the common identifier for all digital systems of specified government agencies. This will bring ease of doing business and will be facilitated through a legal mandate,” Sitharaman had said.

 

The PAN 2.0 project aims to enable technology-driven transformation of taxpayer registration services and offers several benefits, including:

 

Ease of access and speedy service delivery with improved quality

 

A single source of truth and data consistency

 

Eco-friendly processes and cost optimisation

 

Enhanced security and optimised infrastructure for greater agility

 

“This will be an upgrade of the current PAN/TAN 1.0 ecosystem, consolidating core and non-core PAN/TAN activities, as well as PAN validation services. The PAN 2.0 project aligns with the government’s Digital India vision by enabling the use of PAN as a common identifier for all digital systems of specified government agencies,” the finance ministry said in a statement