Why Are There Different Letters and Numbers on Your PAN Card?

Your PAN is not just a random combination of numbers and letters. Actually, PAN has a very fascinating structural design. PAN cards follow the Know Your Customer (KYC) rules and contain information such as identity and age verification. Here are the PAN card details:

1. Name of the Cardholder: Person or Organisation
2. Name of the cardholder’s father: Valid for individual cardholders
3. Date of birth: If the cardholder is an individual, their date of birth is listed. If they are a company or firm, their date of registration is listed.
4. Each character in the 10-letter alpha-numeric PAN number stands for a different piece of the cardholder's personal data.
   1. The first three letters—which contain three letters from A to Z—are strictly alphabetical in nature, from AAA to ZZZ.
   2. The category of the taxpayer is indicated by the fourth letter. The following are the numerous entities and the corresponding characters:
      1. A - Association of Persons
      2. B – Body of Individuals
      3. C – Company
      4. F – Firms
      5. G – Government
      6. H – Hindu Undivided Family
      7. L – Local Authority
      8. J – Artificial Judicial Person
      9. P – Individual
      10. T – Association of Persons for a Trust
   3. The initial letter of each cardholder's last name makes up the fifth letter.
   4. The final characters are chosen at random. The last letter is an alphabet, whereas the first four are integers.
5. The PAN Card also serves as evidence of the person's signature, which is necessary for financial transactions.
6. A photo of the person in their PAN serves as the photo identity of the cardholder. Companies and firms don't have pictures on their PAN cards.
7. It also contains an authenticity hologram, QR code and the date of issue of the PAN Card
8. There are different types of PAN Cards issued to different types of tax-paying entities.
   1. PAN Card for Indian Individuals
   2. PAN Card for Indian Companies
   3. PAN for Foreign Citizens
   4. PAN for Foreign Companies

The earliest PAN number distributions were done manually, and each ward/circle was given a specific set of numbers to prevent duplication. In 1995, this series was cancelled.

Quite interesting to know about what the letters and numbers mean, right?