Over 39% PANs linked with Aadhaar

Over 132.8 million Permanent Account Numbers (PANs) have been linked with the Aadhaar till now, official sources on Monday said. With this, 39.5 per cent of PANs are now linked with Aadhaar numbers.

There are about 330 million PAN cards, while Aadhaar has been issued to about 1150 million people. The government had made the PAN-Aadhaar linking mandatory for filing ITR (Income Tax Return) and obtaining a new Permanent Account Number (PAN) from July 1.

The Supreme Court had in June upheld the validity of an Income Tax Act provision making Aadhaar mandatory for allotment of PAN cards and ITR filing, but had put a partial stay on its implementation till a Constitution bench addressed the issue of right to privacy.

The CBDT had in June this year said the apex court's order had only given a "partial relief" to those who did not have an Aadhaar or an Aadhaar enrolment ID, and the taxman, hence, "will not cancel" the PAN of such individuals.

While Aadhaar is issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to a resident of India, PAN is a 10-digit alphanumeric number alloted by the I-T department to a person, firm or entity.