SEBI's order regarding name in mutual fund folio should be as per Income Tax Records starting April 30, 2024

Reference : PAN–mutual fund folio name mismatch: Here’s what you should know to avoid application rejection

Regarding SEBI’s order mandating that name in mutual fund folio should be as per PAN/Income Tax Records starting April 30, 2024:

But what happens if name on PAN card is abbreviated while name on Income Tax records is expanded?

Background: Many South Indian names have initials before the name and no specific surname/ family name as such. Take a south Indian person’s name like R. Ashwin
Now the expansion of the name is Ravichandran Ashwin
But the first name is actually his father’s name, and Ashwin is his given name.

Now the confusion starts.

[ My name changed for privacy ]

My name in my PAN Card is M Ganesan [ PAN card was issued many years ago ]
but name in Income Tax records is expanded as Manikkam Ganesan

They had shortened my name on the PAN card but internally in the I-T Dept records [and in my ITR filings ] my name was expanded as Manikkam Ganesan.

Note:
My given name: Ganesan
My father’s name: Manikkam

Now:
My mutual fund folios in SoA form were opened few years ago using my PAN card and address proofs which have M. Ganesan as the name.

But according to the new rules requiring an exact match, my abbreviated name in the folios does not match with my expanded name in the I-T Dept records.

I would henceforth like to adopt the widely adopted system of (Given name) followed by (Father’s name)

So, therefore, should I change my name in my PAN card and in my Income Tax records and in my Aadhaar and in my mutual fund folios and in my bank account to Ganesan Manikkam?

Should the investor’s name everywhere be exactly identical with no initials/ abbreviations anywhere?

Calling upon @ShubhS9, @Meher_Smaran for their insights on this topic…

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To comply with SEBI’s mandate for the name in mutual fund folios to exactly match PAN/Income Tax records by April 30, 2024, you should standardize your name across all documents. Since your PAN card shows “M Ganesan” (abbreviated) and Income Tax records show “Manikkam Ganesan” (expanded), discrepancies will arise.

If you prefer using “Ganesan Manikkam” (Given name followed by Father’s name), you should update your PAN to this format first by submitting a correction request. Once your PAN is updated, your Income Tax records will sync. Next, ensure this format is reflected in Aadhaar and bank accounts to maintain uniformity. Since your MF with Zerodha is in a demat mode, the RTAs will update it using the BENPOS file. Yes, the name should be identical across all documents, with no abbreviations or initials, to avoid rejections or transaction issues.

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