The Hindu Business Line : PAN cards outsourcing begins to yield results

THE Income-Tax Department's decision to entrust UTI Investor Services Ltd (UTIISL) with the task of processing and despatching permanent account number (PAN) cards to assesses effective July 1, is seemingly showing results.

According to the latest information compiled by the Finance Ministry, UTIISL has so far received 23.32 lakh applications through the I-T PAN Service Centres set up in all cities and towns where the I-T offices are located.

Out of this, it has captured data from 22.19-lakh applications for transmission to the I-T department. The latter has, in turn, allotted 18.58 lakh cards against these `captured' applications, with UTIISL completing the printing and despatching of 13.56 lakh cards.

"Our move to outsource the entire task of supplying and receiving PAN applications, assisting applicants to fill these up and submitting the necessary accompanying documents, transmitting this data to us, obtaining the allocated PAN from us and, finally, printing and despatching the cards, is certainly paying dividends. The new arrangement is beneficial because the ownership and management of the PAN database remains with us and all that we are outsourcing is part of the business process", a top official from the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) pointed out.

While the current ratio of PAN cards despatched to the number of applications received works out to about 58 per cent, the official said that the proportion would go up with UTIISL gaining experience over time.

On paper, UTIISL is supposed to ensure the despatch of PAN cards within a fortnight of the applications being submitted at the IT PAN Service Centres. "There may some hiccups in the beginning and during the initial six months or so, it may take more than 15 days", the official admitted.

UTIISL has set a target of processing 50 lakh applications during the first year of operations. Seen against this, receiving over 23 lakh completed applications and despatching almost 14 lakh PAN cards in less than four months time is not a bad achievement, the official asserted.

Considering that UTIISL has been authorised to collect a service charge of Rs 60 per application — which is to meet all its costs, including lamination and other processing expenses — it would already have generated about Rs 14 crore from the new outsourcing business. Processing 50 lakh applications would tantamount to an annual business of Rs 30 crore.

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