The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the PAN 2.0 Project for the Income Tax Department on Monday, with a financial outlay of Rs 1,435 crore.

The new project will provide a free-of-cost upgrade to the PAN Card with a QR Code, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced.

PAN 2.0 Project 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. 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.

The entire PAN issuance and verification system will be overhauled, said Vaishnaw.

As per the central government, the PAN 2.0 Project enables technology driven transformation of Taxpayer registration services and has significant benefits including:

Ease of access and speedy service delivery with improved quality;
Single Source of Truth and data consistency
Eco-friendly processes and cost optimization; and