With several new security features, the Government of India is issuing newly designed PAN -Permanent Account Numbers- cards to the Indian citizens. These cards have added features which make them tamper proof and the contents of the card are written both in English and Hindi. This information was confirmed by a senior income tax official.
Distribution of the newly designed cards has been started from January 1. These cards are being printed by NSDL and UTIITSL (UTI Infrastructure Technology and Services Ltd) and are being issued to the new applicants. However, the old card holders can also apply for the new one.
As reported by PTI, following the Government’s Rajbhasha policy, contents of the new PAN cards are made bilingual in which the headers are in English and Hindi.
“The distribution of new PAN cards has started from 1 January. However, these are only for the fresh lot of PAN card applicants,” said the official.
“We have automated the data and made the PAN cards error-free,” he said, adding, “In case existing cardholders apply for a fresh PAN card, they will be issued the newly-designed cards.”
A new feature called Quick Response Code has been added by the Government which will help in any verification process.
