The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved designating Pandey, a 1984 batch IAS officer of Maharashtra cadre, as finance secretary, it said.
The vacancy was necessitated following the superannuation of Rajiv Kumar, financial services secretary, last month.
Pandey has been at the helm of significant taxation reforms, bringing in the simplification of taxation processes and transparency through technology.
Pandey has been revenue secretary since December 1, 2018. Instrumental in introducing faceless e-assessment, faceless e-appeal, Document Identification Number (DIN) system, prefilled income tax returns, quick refunds on income tax returns, among others, Pandey has been at the forefront of driving revenue growth by using data analytics without any overreach.
The government’s move to sharply reduce corporate tax rate and introduction of tax deducted at source on cash dealings to stop leakages and tax avoidance, were spearheaded by Pandey to bring down litigation in tax matters.
According to insiders, Pandey believes that giving options of choosing lower tax rate with no exemptions for taxpayers will help in laying the foundation of a simple and self-compliant tax regime, which will lead to fewer legal cases.
While being chairman of the GST Network — concurrently with Inter-Ministerial Co-ordination Committee (IMCC) to prevent money-laundering activities — since September 2017, he ensured that technical issues with the system were addressed and implementation was smooth.
Pandey had earlier worked as CEO of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the organisation behind Aadhaar, which issued digital identity to over 124 crore Indians. Pandey was seen to be instrumental in scaling up Aadhaar in delivery of subsidies and benefits which led to savings of over Rs. 1,40,000 crore, by eliminating duplicates and ensuring that the benefits reach the real beneficiaries.
The senior-most bureaucrat among all secretaries in the finance ministry is designated as the finance secretary.
Atanu Chakraborty, a 1985 batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre, is at present secretary, Department of Economic Affairs.
Tuhin Kant Pandey, a 1987 batch IAS officer of Odisha cadre, is secretary of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management. His batch mate from Tamil Nadu cadre, T V Somanathan is secretary, Department of Expenditure.
