The central government has made PAN and Aadhaar cards mandatory for investing in PPF, Sukanya Samriddhi, National Savings Certificate and other post office savings schemes. The Central Government issued an order for this on 31 March. The onetime investment could be made only based on PAN. From now on, it will be necessary for the account holders to put their Aadhaar number or Aadhaar enrollment slip in the small savings schemes of the government.

Per the issued order, PAN and Aadhaar must be submitted compulsorily. If a person wants to invest in these schemes but does not have an Aadhaar number, he can offer the enrollment slip. After six months, the account holder must compulsorily submit the Aadhaar number. If the person fails to submit the Aadhaar number, then his investment will be frozen and restarted only after getting the Aadhaar number.

PAN is also mandatory

It has been further said in the order that it is also necessary to submit PAN while opening the account. If PAN is not presented then, it will have to be introduced within the next two months. Apart from this, there are three more circumstances where submission of PAN will be mandatory. If the account balance exceeds Rs.50,000, the total credit exceeds Rs.1 lakh in any financial year, or the amount of withdrawal and transfer from the account exceeds Rs.10,000. The account will be frozen if the PAN is not submitted within two months.

What was the system before?

Earlier, if one did not have Aadhaar or PAN card, then investment could be made by submitting documents like ean lectricity bills, telephone bills, receipt of the municipal corporation, property tax and pension etc. However, these documents could not be older than 2twomonths. Also, it was necessary to mention the current address of the account holder on these papers. Now passport size photo, Aadhaar number or enrollment slip and PAN number will be mandatory for investing in these schemes.