The mutual fund industry is trying its level best to ensure that all investors link their PAN and Aadhaar card before the June 30 deadline. Fund houses, RTAs and major MFDs have been running awareness campaigns asking investors to link the two documents if they are yet to do it.
AMFI has also issued a notification on its website asking investors to "link PAN and Aadhaar card as early as possible."
Linking of both the documents is important for continuity of mutual fund transactions. This is because PAN cards, which are required for MF transactions, will be invalid if it is not linked to Aadhaar before July 1, 2021.
Investors who fail to do so could not execute any fresh mutual fund investment. Redemption of existing investment and processing of SIPs are also likely to suffer.
MFDs fear that non-ITR filing investors like senior citizens, small investors and those living abroad will be affected most by this move. Most tax paying citizens have already linked PAN and Aadhaar as it's mandatory for filing tax returns.
While AMCs, RTAs and large MFDs like NJ India are reaching out to investors through social media and emails, a few distributors have taken a personal approach to communicate this message. Azeem Jagani of Composite Investment Services said that his team is personally contacting investors who are yet to link the documents. He told Cafemutual that a few AMCs have been helping him identify these investors.
However, a few MFDs Cafemutual spoke to are yet to chart out a plan. They said they haven't received any clear information from AMCs, RTAs and even AMFI on the consequences of non-linking of the two documents.
"Everybody is in a confused state. It's difficult to track investors who are yet to link the documents as RTAs don't provide such data. Identifying these investors manually is a grueling task," said Pallab Chatterjee, Chief Operating Officer, Jain Investment.
