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A PAN (Permanent Account Number) is the ID the Income Tax Department uses to tie your money records together. Many students first need one around 18, when they open their own bank account, get a stipend or start investing. Getting it online is free, as long as your documents agree with each other.
Why does a college student need a PAN at 18?
Four situations come up again and again in the first years of college.
Bank accounts. The RBI's Master Direction on KYC asks banks to collect your PAN, or Form 60 if you do not have one, when you open an account. Our guide on opening a bank account as a college student walks through the rest.
Stipends and internship pay. If tax is deductible on a payment and you do not give a valid PAN, section 397(2) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 says it is deducted at a higher rate, in most cases 20% (Income Tax Department, section 397).
Investing. SEBI made PAN "the sole identification number for all participants transacting in the securities market, irrespective of the amount of transaction" (SEBI circular, 2007). In practice, you need a PAN to open a demat or trading account.
Your first job. Expect an employer to ask for it when you join, for the same tax reason.
How do you apply for a PAN online with Aadhaar?
The fastest route is Instant e-PAN on the Income Tax e-filing portal. The official Instant e-PAN FAQ says it is "completely free of cost" and open to an individual who has never been allotted a PAN, is not a minor, and has a valid Aadhaar with a linked mobile number.
The steps, from the Instant e-PAN user manual:
Open incometax.gov.in and click Instant e-PAN on the home page.
Click Get New e-PAN.
Enter your 12-digit Aadhaar number, tick the confirmation box and continue.
Read and accept the consent terms.
Enter the 6-digit OTP sent to your Aadhaar-linked mobile and tick the box to validate your Aadhaar details.
On the Validate Aadhaar Details page, tick I Accept that and continue. Linking your email is optional.
Note the acknowledgement number. Later, use Check Status / Download PAN to get your e-PAN.
The FAQ says you will not get a physical card this way; the e-PAN is a valid form of PAN. If you want a printed card later, the FAQ points you to the reprint services of Protean (formerly NSDL) and UTIITSL.
Which details must match your marksheet?
Instant e-PAN takes your details from Aadhaar, so Aadhaar is the document to get right. The FAQ says that if Aadhaar shows only your year of birth, you must update the date of birth first, and if any detail is wrong you must correct it in the Aadhaar database.
The Form 93 route through Protean has its own catch. Protean's document list for Form 93 accepts Aadhaar as proof of identity and address but not as proof of date of birth, while a "Matriculation certificate or mark sheet of recognised board" is accepted. For most students, the Class 10 marksheet is the easiest date-of-birth proof. On that route, Protean's online application page lists ₹107 including taxes for a physical card sent to an Indian address when you post physical documents.
The Form 93 guidelines add three rules on names:
Write your name in full, with no abbreviations and no titles like Kumari or Shri.
If your Aadhaar name has initials, write the expanded name in 1A and the Aadhaar name exactly as it appears in 1B.
"Aadhaar name will be printed on the PAN card."
The form also asks for both parents' names unless you have a single parent, and you choose which one is printed.
A worked example
Say your Aadhaar reads S. PRIYA, your Class 10 marksheet reads SUBRAMANIAM PRIYA, and the date of birth on Aadhaar is one day off from your marksheet. You could still apply, but your PAN would carry the initial-style Aadhaar name, and the date would clash with your marksheet. You would then have three IDs that disagree, which can cause trouble in later bank KYC or scholarship checks.
The cleaner fix: update Aadhaar to match the marksheet first, wait for the update to go through, then apply. If your scholarship money has stalled for a similar reason, see our guide on fixing Aadhaar bank seeding.
What should you check before you apply?
Lay your Aadhaar and Class 10 marksheet side by side and tick these off:
Name: same spelling, same order, no initials in place of full words.
Date of birth: full day, month and year on both.
Gender: correct on Aadhaar.
Mobile: the number linked to Aadhaar is one you have with you now.
Parents' names: written the way you want them on your PAN.
Marksheet copy: keep a clear copy ready; DigiLocker can give you your Class 10 marksheet if the original is at home.
If anything does not match, fix it at the source before you apply.
That's the paperwork done. If the first semester's physics or maths is the bigger worry, Fermi's AI tutor can work out what you already know and build a plan for the session, so you start with a clear next step.
