Page 14 - Banking Finance July 2020

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FM launches new facility After this process, a 15-digit Employees face income
acknowledgement number is gener-
for issue of PAN in just 10 ated. If required, the applicant can loss of Rs. 4-lakh crore

minutes check the status of the request any State Bank of India's economic re-
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, time by providing her/his valid Aadhaar search department has cut its GDP
launched a new facility for issuance of number and on successful allotment, growth estimates for FY21 from 2.6
PAN on the basis of e-KYC (Know Your can download the e-PAN. The e-PAN is per cent to 1.1 per cent, with the pos-
Customer/Client) to be completed with also sent to the applicant on her/his sibility of first quarter growth contract-
Aadhaar. email id, if it is registered with ing 6 per cent, or more and second
Aadhaar. quarter witnessing no growth.
The new facility is available for those
PAN applicants who possess a valid As on May 25, a total of 50.52 crore This comes in the backdrop of the con-
Aadhaar number and have a mobile PANs have been allotted to taxpayers, tinuous nation-wide lockdown to stem
number registered with Aadhaar. The out of which, 49.39 crore were allot- the spread of COVID-19,
allotment process is paperless and an ted to the individuals and more than The FY20 GDP growth has been re-
electronic PAN (e-PAN) is issued to the 32.17crore were seeded with Aadhaar. vised downwards from 5 per cent to
applicants free of cost. The Union Bud-
get 2020 had said that instant PAN Centre taps oil sector for 4.1 per cent, the report said.
facility will be launched shortly. "For causal labourers, this income loss
revenue
This new facility's 'Beta version' was it at least Rs 1 lakh crore. Thus any fis-
started on trial basis on February 12 on The Centre increasing the excise duties cal package should at least strive to
the e-filing website of Income Tax De- on petrol (by Rs. 10/- litre) and on die- more than make up for this Rs 4 lakh
sel (by Rs. 13/- litre) is along expected
partment. Since then over 6.77 lakhs crore income loss." said Soumya Kanti
lines. A cash strapped government reel-
instant PANs have been allotted with Ghosh, Group Chief Economic Adviser,
a turnaround time of about 10 min- ing from the economic hit due to Covid- SBI.
utes. 19 has again tapped into its time-tested
cash cow - the petroleum sector.
The process of applying for instant PAN India blocks automatic FDI
is very simple. The applicant is required This is the second hike in the excise route for neighbors
to access the e-filing website of the duty on these fuels in less than two
Income Tax Department months; the Centre had earlier raised In a major policy shift for its foreign
(www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in) to the duty on petrol and diesel by Rs. 3 direct investment (FDI) policy, India
provide her/his valid Aadhaar number a litre on March 14. The Centre is try- mandated that all the investments
and then submit the OTP (One Time ing to make up by higher tax rates from neighbouring countries, including
Password) received on her/his Aadhaar what it is losing in volumes due to the China, would now require government
registered mobile number. crash in demand for these fuels. approval. This effectively closes the

14 | 2020 | JULY | BANKING FINANCE