PAN 2.0 Project Worth Rs 1,435 Crore Gets Cabinet Nod

The Union Cabinet on Monday issued its nod to the "PAN 2.0 project", which will enable technology-driven transformation of taxpayer registration services through use of the government-issued permanent account number.

The approval to the project was granted by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a release noted. The financial implication for the project will be Rs 1,435 crore, it said.

The project, aligned with the government's Digital India vision, will enable the use of PAN as "common identifier for all digital systems of specified government agencies", it added.

PAN 2.0 has significant benefits including "ease of access and speedy service delivery with improved quality", the release said. The initiative will also result in "single source of truth and data consistency", it added.

Among other benefits listed are "eco-friendly processes and cost optimisation", and "security and optimisation of infrastructure for greater agility".

The project will result in the re-engineering of business processes of taxpayer registration through digital transformation of PAN and TAN services, the release said. TAN refers to the Tax Deduction and Collection Account Number issued by the Income Tax Department.

"This will be an upgrade of the current PAN/TAN 1.0 eco-system consolidating the core and non-core PAN/TAN activities as well as PAN validation service," it further added.

The idea of PAN, or a 10-digit alphanumeric code assigned to individual taxpayers and businesses, was first floated in 1972. It was introduced across India in 1975 under section 139A of the Income Tax Act 1961. From 2005, it become mandatory to quote PAN on challans for any payments due to I-T Department.

The linking of PAN with Aadhaar—the twelve-digit identity number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India—became mandatory from June 2023.