New Delhi: 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 an outlay of Rs 1,435 crore.

The PAN 2.0 project aims to enable a technology-driven transformation of taxpayer registration services and has significant benefits. It includes ease of access and speedy service delivery with improved quality; a single source of truth and data consistency; eco-friendly processes and cost optimisation; and security and optimisation of infrastructure for greater agility.

"It is an e-governance project for re-engineering the business processes of taxpayer registration services through technology-driven transformation of PAN/TAN services for enhanced digital experience of the taxpayers," according to a cabinet communique. This will be an upgrade of the current PAN/TAN 1.0 ecosystem, consolidating the core and non-core PAN/TAN activities as well as the PAN validation service.

The CCEA further stated that the PAN 2.0 project "resonates with the vision of the government enshrined in Digital India by enabling the use of PAN as a common identifier for all digital systems of specified government agencies".

Meanwhile, the I-T Department expects to surpass the direct tax collection target of Rs 22.07 lakh crore fixed in the Union Budget for the current financial year. India’s net direct tax collections, comprising corporate tax and personal income tax, shot up by a robust 15.4 per cent to Rs 12.1 lakh crore, from April 1 to November 10 during the current financial year, according to the latest figures released by the CBDT.

The government’s target to collect Rs 22.07 lakh crore during the current financial year comprises Rs 10.20 lakh crore from corporate tax and Rs 11.87 lakh from personal income tax, non-corporate tax and other taxes. (IANS)