Date:11/01/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/01/11/stories/2005011100390900.htm

Back Excise payments: NSDL to take up pilot project on data collection

K.R. Srivats

New Delhi , Jan. 10

NATIONAL Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) may play an important role in the coming months in helping the revenue department collect real-time data on excise duty payments made through various bank branches of the country.

"A pilot project is to be undertaken by NSDL from January 17 for a specific region," Mr C.B. Bhave, Chairman and Managing Director, told Business Line on the sidelines of the `Second Generation Financial Sector Reforms Conclave 2005'.

"The bank branches in that region would forward the data on excise collections in a particular format to us and this would then be collated and forwarded to excise department. The pilot would be done on the Chennai region, to start with."

NSDL is already managing the Tax Information Network (TIN) of the Income-Tax Department.

Meanwhile, as part of the next phase of the TIN project, NSDL has been asked to prepare a PAN-wise book for the period beginning April 1, 2005.

The book is like a ledger book that would be in electronic form with a page or account for each PAN holder.

"Whatever tax is deducted by an employer from salaries or at source in any part of the country on any income received by a PAN holder would get reflected in his account in the PAN-wise book," Mr Bhave said.