GSTHow to verify the digital signature on an e-PAN card
Updated June 2026 · 5 min read
The e-PAN you download from NSDL/Protean or UTIITSL isn't just a picture of your PAN card — it's a PDF digitally signed on behalf of the Income Tax Department. That signature is what turns a downloadable file into something a bank or employer can actually trust. If someone hands you an e-PAN and you need to be sure it wasn't cooked up in an image editor, verifying the signature settles it in seconds.
e-PAN password: most e-PAN PDFs open with your date of birth in DDMMYYYY format (for example
05011990). Some older NSDL files use a different combination shown in the download email.Verify your e-PAN online
- Download the e-PAN from the NSDL/Protean or UTIITSL portal.
- Upload it to our PDF signature verifier.
- If prompted, enter the password above, then click Verify.
- Read the verdict, the signer and the issuing authority.
What a green verdict tells you
Green means the e-PAN is byte-for-byte as issued and that the signing certificate chains to a trusted Indian root. If anyone altered the PAN number, name or date of birth, the integrity check fails and you get a red result — which is precisely how you catch a doctored PAN that looks convincing to the naked eye.
"Validity unknown" is normal in Adobe
Like other government PDFs, e-PAN is signed with a DSC that Adobe Reader doesn't trust by default, so it shows "validity unknown". It's a trust-store gap on your device, not proof of a problem — our fix guide explains how to clear it, and this tool sidesteps it entirely.
Want the full picture of how the check works, or how the Indian trust chain is built? See how to verify a digital signature in a PDF and our explainer on CCA India and Certifying Authorities.
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