The KYC process is vital for onboarding in different business environments. Organisations can render financial services to employees and customers only after identity verification. So, the KYC process plays a crucial role in delivering customer satisfaction. The e-KYC market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 21.55% from 2022 to 2030. 

PAN Verification Overview

In the Union Budget 2023-2024, the government has recognised Permanent Account Number (PAN) as the principal identity for business organisations. PAN cards along with Aadhar cards are used in the KYC process for verification. PAN cards are more relevant for financial services verification as they have the specimen signature. 

PAN verification is required to prevent fraudulent financial transactions. PAN verification is vital for buyer-seller interactions to improve the transparency of transactions. The government has mandated PAN verification for anti-money laundering (AML) purposes. 

PAN Verification For Businesses 

As of 2022, more than 43.34 crore PAN cards are linked with Aadhar. It enables businesses to use PAN cards to enter the National Single Window System (NSWS). Financial institutions must complete PAN verification to onboard individual and corporate customers. PAN verification is also essential for employee verification for complete payroll processing. For financial institutions, KYC verification constitutes 40% of the onboarding process. With the rise of e-KYC, organisations must look for automation solutions to verify customers digitally. 

PAN Cards Use cases

Offline and online PAN verification is required in the following cases:

• Opening new bank accounts
• Opening Demat accounts
• Applying for credit cards
• Investing in mutual funds
• Applying for loans
• Getting new landline or mobile connections
• Filing for income tax returns
• Buying foreign currency
• Purchasing or selling properties
• Purchasing or selling vehicles
• Buying expensive jewellery 

For business transactions and corporate customers, PAN verification is essential. As PAN cards are automatically linked to Aadhar cards, Aadhar-based verification also involves PAN verification. 

PAN Card Verification Types

There are 3 main types of PAN card verification:

1. File-based PAN verification – Organisations can validate PAN cards by comparing details on the PAN card with the corresponding files maintained by the income tax department of India. Users can upload a maximum of 1000 files for bulk verification. However, one has to wait for 24 hours to get verification results. This type of verification requires businesses to upload files in a specific file structure. Otherwise, the verification request will be rejected. 

2. Screen-based PAN verification – Organisations can verify PAN cards using the details alone without uploading physical copies of the PAN card. This technology verifies PAN data quickly based on the database on the income tax department website. Users can upload up to 5 PAN card details at once and add corresponding details. 

3. PAN API verification – Businesses can partner with API providers to use software-based PAN verification in this method. Tartan integrates PAN API into existing business applications to streamline the PAN verification process. This provides seamless identity verification for completing KYC. Organisations can upload bulk PAN information and verify them quickly within a few minutes. Financial institutions can reduce the costs of onboarding using PAN API verification. It also ensures compliance with financial regulations automatically. 

Conclusion

The KYC process is a key step to complete customer due diligence. The union government encourages the fintech sector to use risk-based analysis of customers and verifying identity is a vital step to assess risks. Integrating verification APIs for identity verification reduces KYC drop-offs and increases customer satisfaction while safeguarding against fraud. 

About Tartan

Tartan is a full-stack verification API platform that revolutionises data verification processes. Tartan uses real-time APIs for identity verification using PAN cards. It takes only a few seconds for Tartan APIs to verify data and ensures easy onboarding of individual and corporate customers. Tartan API verification assures identity accuracy and reduces onboarding costs to enable seamless financial services.