The Ministry of Finance has Aadhaar and PAN (Permanent Account Number) mandatory for PPF, NSC and various small savings plans, as announced in a notification dated March 31, 2023. This mandate also applies to existing investors.
According to the notice, depositors who have already opened their accounts and have not submitted their Aadhaar number to the Audit Office must do so within six months, with effect from April 1, 2023. The deadline for compliance is September 30, 2023.
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If the Aadhaar number is not provided within the stipulated period of six months, the account will become inactive until the depositor provides the Aadhaar number to the Accounts Office, the ET report said.
If your Post Office investments are frozen, this could result in:
- Non-crediting of interest to the investor’s bank account
- Inability to make deposits in PPF or
Sukanya Samriddhi accounts - Non-crediting of the maturity amount to the investor’s bank account.
In addition, investors who have not provided their Permanent Account Number (PAN) when opening the account must submit it to the Accounting Office within two months of the first of the following events:
- When the balance in the account exceeds fifty thousand rupees.
- When the aggregate of all balances in the account in a financial year exceeds one lakh rupees.
- When the total of all withdrawals and transfers from the account in a month exceeds ten thousand rupees.