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KYCVerify

India · PAN validation

Catch a malformed PAN before it reaches your books.

A PAN has a fixed structure: five letters, four digits, one letter, with the fourth letter giving the holder type and the fifth the name initial. KYCVerify validates all of it and, when the card is photographed, reads it back by OCR to compare.

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kycverify · productpan
characters, validated position by position
10
holder types recognised from the fourth letter
10
government lookups: structural validation only
0
Income Tax Dept. format

What it checks

PAN, check by check.

Each rule below is what the engine actually runs. The result is written as a pan check with its score and warnings.

  • Format

    [A-Z]{3}[ABCFGHJLPT][A-Z][0-9]{4}[A-Z], after upper-casing and removing whitespace.

  • Holder type

    The fourth character identifies an individual, company, firm, trust, HUF, government body and others. A non-individual PAN sends the PAN step to review as pan_not_individual.

  • Name initial

    For individuals the fifth character is the surname initial; for others, the entity-name initial. A mismatch with the supplied name is a warning.

  • Card cross-check

    With a card image, the PAN and name are read by OCR and compared with what the person typed.

Try it

Type a PAN, read it position by position.

Ten characters, five rules. The validator below is the engine's, run on your keyboard input: structure, holder type, and the name initial with honorifics stripped.

  • The rules are ported line for line from the Rust engine, and the page names the file.
  • Everything runs locally in this tab. No request is made while you type.
  • Reset puts the example back; nothing is saved.

PAN structure explainer

Runs in your browser
Try

Spaces are removed and letters upper-cased first.

Honorifics such as Mr, Smt and M/s are ignored.

Position by position

  1. ABCSeriesvalid
  2. PHoldervalid
  3. SInitialvalid
  4. 1234Numbervalid
  5. FLettervalid

The holder letter is one of P, C, H, F, A, T, B, L, J, G. For an individual (P) the fifth letter is the surname initial; for a company, firm or trust it is the entity name's initial.

Valid structure

Holder type: Individual. The fifth letter matches the name.
POST /v1/checks/pan · 200
{
  "normalized": "ABCPS1234F",
  "valid_format": true,
  "holder_type": "individual",
  "name_initial_match": true,
  "issues": [],
  "government_lookup": false,
  "note": "Structural validation only: format, holder type and name initial. No government database (NSDL / Protean / Income Tax Department) lookup was performed."
}

A structurally valid PAN can still be unissued or someone else's. KYCVerify makes no lookup against the Income Tax Department, and every response says so.

Logic ported from backend/crates/kyc-india/src/pan.rs. Nothing you type leaves this page.

How it works

What happens, in order.

  1. 1

    Enter

    The person types their PAN and name, and optionally photographs the card.

  2. 2

    Validate

    Structure, holder type and initial are checked; the card image, if any, is read and compared.

  3. 3

    Record

    A pan check is written with the validation detail and a note that no government lookup was made.

Configuration

The workflow keys and their defaults.

Workflow · json
"pan": { "enabled": true, "require_card_image": false }
KeyDefaultMeaning
require_card_imagefalseAsk for a photo of the PAN card as well as the number.

Reference

The fourth letter says who holds it.

The fourth letter says who holds it.
LetterHolder typeFifth letter is
PIndividualSurname initial
CCompanyEntity name initial
HHindu undivided familySurname or name initial
FFirm or LLPEntity name initial
AAssociation of personsEntity name initial
TTrustEntity name initial
BBody of individualsEntity name initial
LLocal authorityEntity name initial
JArtificial juridical personEntity name initial
GGovernmentEntity name initial

Reasons and warnings

Exact codes, as they appear in the check's data and warnings, so you can branch on them.

PAN codes
CodeOutcomeWhen
pan_invalid_formatfailedNot AAAAA9999A, or the fourth letter is not a holder type. The person may correct it and retry.
pan_not_individualreviewThe PAN belongs to a company, firm, trust or other non-individual holder.
pan_name_mismatchreviewThe fifth letter, or the name on the photographed card, does not match the holder's name.
pan_card_mismatchreviewThe PAN printed on the photographed card differs from the one typed.
pan_card_unreadreviewThe card image could not be read, when require_card_image is on.

API

Validate a PAN in one call.

POST /v1/checks/pan with the PAN and, optionally, the holder's name. The response always carries government_lookup: false.

Checks referenceDeveloper overview

Validate a PAN in one call.

curl -X POST https://kycverify.me/api/v1/checks/pan \
  -H "x-api-key: $KYC_API_KEY" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "pan": "ABCPS1234F",
    "name": "Rahul Kumar Sharma"
  }'

200 OK

{
  "normalized": "ABCPS1234F",
  "valid_format": true,
  "holder_type": "individual",
  "name_initial_match": true,
  "issues": [],
  "government_lookup": false,
  "note": "Structural validation only: format, holder type and name initial. No government database (NSDL / Protean / Income Tax Department) lookup was performed."
}

Limits

What it does not do.

Stated up front, so you can decide what to pair it with.

  • No lookup against the Income Tax Department, NSDL or Protean: that requires a licensed provider. A structurally valid PAN may not exist or may belong to someone else.
  • Pair PAN with a document or Aadhaar step and face match when you need to bind the PAN to a present person.

FAQ

PAN: questions.

Can I validate a PAN from my backend?

Yes. POST /v1/checks/pan with { pan, name? } returns the structural validation.

Why not verify against the government database?

Because that requires a licence KYCVerify does not have and does not pretend to. The check data states plainly that no lookup was made.

Try it in the sandbox today.

Every check is available from the first sign-up, with test keys and a default workflow. Talk to us when you are ready to verify real people.

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