Anil's blog on PAN Card

Hello all - I moved to USA from India in 1999 for better job prospects. I recently obtained PAN Card from India. Initially, it appeared to be a difficult task.

I would like to share my experience in getting a PAN Card from India. In a nutshell, my problem was solved after I engaged PAN Card Express who are based in New Jersey, USA.

I didn’t visit India until 2018 - a very long 19 years away from the country. When I was visiting, it was all strange for me. Though I had lived in India for 20+ years, this country appeared remotely home to me.

Bureaucracies are strongly rooted in anything and everything. I had to use my savings bank account with State Bank of India that was dormant. The bank account had some money left in it. The bank manager said I needed to complete my KYC - they wanted to know about their customer. I can tell you that was not an easy or simple process at all.

My citizenship has changed since I opened the bank account. I was a proud Indian citizen before, and now even more prouder American Citizen. The State Bank of India was having no idea of my citizenship change when having my savings account on their books. Given the transformations seen in the Banking sector, it was correct that they asked me to complete KYC. However, I wish the KYC process was simple, easy to understand, and faster.

First and foremost, the bank asked me to provide my PAN Number. I was like - what? I had never heard of PAN before. Is that a dosa pan or meetha paan? They don’t seem to have anything related to a bank account.

PAN stands for Permanent Account Number. It is a tax identification number given by the Income tax department of India. A person can have multiple bank accounts, but the person can have only one PAN Number.

How do I get a PAN Number? Why don’t the banks themselves provide me a new PAN Number? The banks in India don’t offer any meaningful help needed. The banks just pointed me to a couple of government units called - NSDL / UTIITSL.

Oh my god - I wish I could explain the torture in dealing with those two PAN Processing units. I called them over the phone, I wrote to them over email, and I finally visited them in person. Nothing had improved in Indian bureaucracy in the last 20 years.

Their offices were filled with stacks of papers all over the place. Apparently, NSDL and UTIITSL receive thousands of applications every day for PAN Number. Citizens of India send application forms over postal mail to their offices. The bundles of applications are loosely carried out of a truck and thrown into a room full of sacks of PAN applications.

Few photographs of applicants were all scattered over and some of the applications were found torn and tossed over. I wondered how those applicants are ever going to get their PAN Number.

I finally managed to meet a customer service lady who was kind enough to spend time with me. She explained to me the process to obtain a PAN Number as a foreign citizen. I needed a proof of identification and a proof of address. That sounded simple enough for me.

I showed her my US driver’s license as it had both my photo ID and also my address. I thought I could get away just with my license. Nope - that’s not as simple as it sounded like.

She said only a US passport could be taken as proof of ID. Furthermore, just a copy of the US passport will not be accepted. Someone has to certify that the copy is a true copy. Okay, I started thinking let me get to a notary public or a bank manager. Hang on, that is not accepted too. What? You wanted me to get someone to certify that my US passport copy is a true copy. That’s correct. A notary public’s seal is not accepted? No.

So, who can certify my US Passport copy? Apparently, the certifying process is called “Apostille”. That’s another word I am learning for the first time in India. Only certain government organizations are permitted to provide an “Apostille” certificate and declare my US passport copy to be true. Secretary of State departments provide it as a service to US citizens. Government documents such as birth certificates or passports can be “apostilled” by the Secretary of State.

I am currently visiting India and how do I get this Apostille from a state department in the US? That was the end of my attempt to get a PAN Number. I could not get to operate my bank account. I returned back to the US and my bank account continued to remain dormant. I was living on the cash dollars that I carried.

Upon returning to California, I was sad and angry at how unprepared I was. I should have learnt about the bureaucracies and gone prepared.

Light at the end of tunnel:

With technology, we now receive services that never existed before. I can share a ride on a BMW luxury SUV and call it a taxi - thanks to Uber. I never need to visit a shopping mall and instead have all items delivered to home - thanks to Amazon.

Along the same lines, did anyone think we could apply and get a PAN Number from India? But don’t get over excited. We have not reached there yet, however, a much improved option has emerged.

I saw on Google about a startup firm based in New Jersey who advertised on providing PAN Card services. I wish I had engaged them before, or rather they must have done a better job in advertising. That would have helped me avoid the torture in India.

This firm in New Jersey calls themselves “PAN Card Express”. It may not be a fully online process, but they are able to provide simpler and reliable experience.

PAN Card Express told me that I could have obtained a PAN number when I was in India by simply showing the India visa. Of course, I was visiting India on a valid visa. I did not know that my visa could have been used as proof of ID. Anyway, now that I have returned back to California, PAN Card Express offered to help get my PAN Number in a few weeks.

I did not need any notary or any Apostille. I benefited from the same visa I used to visit India. PAN Card Express website was easier to use. I filled the application in 3 minutes and made a payment of $49. They helped me review documents over email first, just in case to avoid any errors that could be costly later. Finally, I sent the application with my photo and signature to India.

To my pleasant surprise, I was getting weekly updates from the customer care team on status - when my documents arrived at Chennai, when the documents were submitted to NSDL / UTIITSL, when my PAN Number was allotted, when my PAN Card package was dispatched, and finally when the day PAN Card was arriving at my doorstep in California. Only $49 for this full spectrum of service? This startup in New Jersey had simply blown away. They have managed to put a wrapper around the bureaucracies in India and offer a finest private concierge around it.

I have written a number of blogs in the past - most of them criticizing service providers and a very few worthy of mentions. This one puts a smile on my face as I write this down. I wish to see more startups in the USA that will help offer extended services - like for example - help NRI sell property in India and repatriate money out to the USA.

I wish another startup comes up and provides personal care services to aged parents in India - when their sons and daughters are working their heart out in the US. My parents are aging and their health issues begin to creep me out. It is too late in their life to consider migrating to the US and too late for me to return to India to start a new career. Any one there offering to provide finest elderly care services in India?

Anil Joshi

Sincere thanks to nripancard.org for publishing my blog on their portal. You can contact me at lotimpex@gmail.com