Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said that after Bangalore, two more centres that handle I-T returns digitally would be set up at Pune and Maneasar.

The Finance Minister also asked the Income Tax Department to partner with the corporate sector to automatise its non-core processes, so as to achieve economy of scale.

"I am happy to announce that the Income Tax department has identified two more locations for setting up Centralised Processing Centres (CPC) in Pune and Maneasar," Mukherjee said after dedicating the CPC here to the nation.

The CPC at Bengaluru processes electronic tax returns for the entire country, besides physical returns for the Karnataka and Goa regions.

"I am glad to note that the CPC has become operational in a short period of time. It has processed over 7 lakh returns during this period," Mukherjee said.

Mukherjee said that Bengaluru, the IT capital of India, was appropriately chosen as the location for the first CPC.

The CPC project at Bengaluru was approved by the Union Cabinet at a total cost of Rs 255 crore over a five-year period. The centre has been set up with technological support from Infosys.

These kinds of initiatives are beneficial to the taxpayer as well as the I-T Department because it not only reduces the compliance cost for the taxpayer, but also helps the department collate the information for tax policy planning as well as sector-based investigations, Mukherjee said.