PAN could become single ID for investment approvals: Piyush Goyal

‘Trying to integrate data collection with a one-time entry of critical information and using existing database available with the government… Most likely that will be the PAN number, with which a lot of basic data like the company’s details, its directors, GST numbers, is already available

Investors may soon no longer have to fill in mutliple identity details for accessing the National Single Window System for project-related clearances and approvals with the government likely to make the Permanent Account Number (PAN) issued by the Income Tax department a single-point identifier.

A proposal to this effect is in the works and will be notified once it is approved by the Finance Ministry, sparing investors the burden of uploading details of multiple identity numbers such as Director Identification Number, for a project.

“We are trying to integrate data collection with a single time entry of critical information and using existing database available with the government… Most likely that will be the PAN number, with which a lot of basic data like the company’s details, its directors, GST numbers, is already available,” Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday.

“That will eliminate a lot of duplication that people have to do while applying for different licences, and data which is most times already available with the PAN Number, will help auto-populate other application forms that are received and help speed up approvals and encourage more companies to apply,”said Mr. Goyal, adding that the Department of Revenue has been approached for this.

Noting that the single window clearance system was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech, Mr. Goyal said it had now become a reality, with 76,000 applications already received on the system though it is still in a beta testing phase.

Twenty-seven of 32 central government departments and 19 States have on-boarded the system and the five remaining central departments are expected to come on board by Decembber 31, said Anurag Jain, Secretary, Department for Promotion of Investment and Internal Trade. The Ministry is also looking to enable filing of various business-related returns on the single-window platform, he said.