Shares of Protean eGov Technologies nosedived 20% on Monday after the company disclosed it had been disqualified from the selection process for the Income Tax Department’s ambitious PAN 2.0 project. The steep decline erased investor confidence, triggering the lower circuit on both the BSE and NSE. While the firm clarified that its existing PAN issuance services remain unaffected, the exclusion from this high-value government digital infrastructure contract raises questions about its future participation in public-sector technology modernization.