More than 11 crore PAN still not linked with Aadhaar

Linking one’s PAN and Aadhaar numbers is mandatory.

More than 11 crore Permanent Account Numbers (PAN) have yet to be linked with their respective Aadhaar numbers, the Ministry of Finance has informed the Parliament.

In a written response to the Lok Sabha on February 5, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said that as of January 29, the number of PANs not linked with Aadhaar, excluding exempted categories, stood at 11.48
crore.

Also Read: Inoperative PAN is not inactive PAN, clarifies I-T Dept

For people who were allotted a PAN on or before July 1, 2017, it was mandatory to link it with their Aadhaar by June 30, 2023, failing which the PAN became inoperative. However, the PAN can be made operative again after paying a penalty of Rs 1,000.

According to data furnished by Chaudhary to the Lok Sabha, the government has collected Rs 601.97 crore as penalties from people between July 1, 2023 and January 31, 2024 for the linking of PAN and Aadhaar after the deadline. As such, this means that more than 60 lakh people have paid the penalty to link their PAN and Aadhaar after the government's deadline, which was extended on multiple occasions.