Unable to invest in MF due to inoperative PAN?: Here is a good news for you

Sebi earlier required that all mutual fund investors link their PAN with Aadhaar to complete KYC process

If your PAN card is inoperative because it is not linked with Aadhaar, you may still invest in a mutual fund (MF). The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has removed the requirement to link Permanent Account Number (PAN) with Aadhaar to obtain "KYC-registered" status for mutual fund transactions. Sebi amended the KYC guidelines on May 14, 2024, providing relief to such investors.

New rules:

As of 14 May, Sebi no longer requires PAN and Aadhaar to be linked for an investor to receive "KYC-registered" status.

Investors can obtain "KYC-registered" status by completing KYC with other officially valid documents (OVDs) such as Aadhaar, passport, driving licence, or voter ID card.

To obtain "KYC-validated" status, however, PAN and Aadhaar still need to be linked.

Earlier, linking of PAN with Aadhaar was mandatory for both 'KYC registered' and 'KYC validated' status i.e. KYC status would be 'KYC registered' or 'KYC validated' depending on various conditions but both the status required PAN-Aadhaar linkage.

How does an investor check his MF KYC status?

Go to www.cvlkra.com and click on KYC inquiry to understand the status of your existing MF KYC. You will get the following three results :

On-hold KYC status: Investors with on-hold KYC status cannot perform any mutual fund transactions, including systematic investment plans (SIPs), lump sum purchases, or redemption requests.

KYC-validated investors: These investors face no restrictions on transactions and can deal with all fund houses.

KYC-registered investors: They can only transact with fund houses where they already have investments.

If the status is ‘KYC on hold’, then the reason could be mobile or email id not validated/PAN not linked with Aadhaar/deficiency in KYC documents. An investor should upload valid documents on the mutual fund website.