New Delhi: The Union Cabinet has approved the renewal of the PAN card issued by the Income Tax Department with other security features including QR code at a cost of Rs 1,435 crore.
Currently, 78 crore people in the country have a PAN card. Through the 10-digit identification number in it, a person’s financial transactions are linked with the Income Tax Department. The Union Cabinet has now approved the renewal of this card at a cost of Rs 1,435 crore. Under this scheme, the existing old PAN cards and new PAN cards will be upgraded with QR code facility. The PAN number of existing PAN number holders will not change, only the PAN card will be upgraded with additional security features.
Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said in this regard: “The Union Cabinet has approved the PAN 2.0 scheme to make the PAN card a common identity card for businesses and a single source of truth and data consistency. This will make the PAN card a strong source of information. It is already linked to the Aadhaar number.
Through this scheme, 78 crore people who currently have PAN cards can renew their PAN cards free of cost. In this, the PAN number will not change. Only the PAN card will be enhanced with additional security and data features. The industry has been demanding a common identification number for businesses for a long time. Through the PAN 2.0 scheme, the PAN card will become the identity card for businesses. In this, all PAN/TAN/TIN numbers will be merged.
Apart from the QR code, the PAN 2.0 scheme will create a website integrated with the “Mandatory PAN Data Vault System”. This facility can be used by all the companies that use PAN data. This change is being made for data security and cyber security purposes. The important feature in this is the PAN data vault system. Information related to PAN number is used by banks and insurance companies. We provide PAN number information to many places. Those companies can use it securely through the PAN data vault system.
“Since the existing software is outdated, a unified website will be created for this. All work will be done online without paper. The Income Tax Department will now publish the details and applications for obtaining a PAN 2.0 card,” he said.
Leave a Reply