The PAN card challenge: can ecommerce face up to it?

If giving their credit or debit card details to online retailers were not enough, customers now have another ecommerce requirement that may have them sweating. According to reports, high-value transactions such as jewellery, air tickets and expensive electronic s would call for the verification of the customer’s PAN card details before the purchase can be processed.

Obviously, this raises some questions about how ecommerce portals can process this sensitive banking information. Will this entail the need for extra time in delivering the product as the seller will have to verify the PAN card details of the customer before completing the transaction? Or will the delivery staff be roped in to check the customer’s PAN card when the product is delivered to their doorstep?

Will this affect sales?

Several sceptics believed that this new government stipulation for PAN card details would affect the way customers accessed ecommerce. However, the experts beg to differ.

A Snapdeal spokesperson explains, “We are studying the provisions in detail. However, we don’t foresee any risk as purchases of more than Rs 1 lakh are only allowed only if pre-paid through net banking, credit or debit card.”

Vijay Shekhar Sharma , Founder and CEO of mobile wallet Paytm, explains how they have been managing the processing of PAN card details. “A business-class air ticket can easily cost above Rs 1 lakh. For Paytm, we check PAN details for people who top up their wallet for more than Rs 10,000.”

For now, it seems like online marketplaces and retailers will not have to worry about the whole ‘PAN card’ issue. It does not seem to have any damaging effect on ecommerce sales and popularity!