Cabinet Upgrades PAN Holders to Feature QR Code at No Cost

The Union Cabinet has approved an upgrade to the current Permanent Account Number (PAN) with the addition of a QR code on the cards, as well as a proposal to make PAN "the common identifier for businesses."

The Cabinet approved the Income Tax Department's PAN 2.0 Project, which will cost Rs 1,435 crore and will completely upgrade the existing system and revamp the digital backbone. 

Also, it makes PAN a common business identifier for all digital systems of specified government agencies, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated during the Cabinet briefing.

Cabinet upgrades PAN holders to feature QR code

Existing PAN holders will receive free upgrades.

According to an official release, the PAN 2.0 project would enable the technological transformation of taxpayer registration services, with the goal of improving ease of access and service delivery. 

According to a statement, the PAN 2.0 initiative proposes making PAN the "single source of truth and data consistency," as well as improving infrastructure security and agility.

"The new PAN cards will be QR code enabled. The current ones can convert their old PAN cards to QR code-enabled ones," a senior Finance Ministry official said.

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