Meaning of Numbers on a Pan Card Here is how : Unlike credit cards or cheque leafs, which have only numbers, a PAN Card consists of a 10 digit alphanumeric sequence. Let’s understand what each character of this sequence stands for. First 3 Characters The first 3 characters on a PAN card represent an alphabetic series running from AAA to ZZZ. 4th Character The 4th character represents the status of the PAN holder, which can be one of the following: C – Company P – Person H — HUF (Hindu Undivided Family) F — Firm A — Association of Persons (AOP) T — AOP (Trust) B — Body of Individuals (BOI) L — Local Authority J — Artificial Juridical Person G — Government So, an individual will have the 4th character as P. 5th Character The fifth character of the PAN is the first letter of: the surname in the case the status is “P”, or, the name of the Entity, Trust, Society, Organization, HUF, etc. in all other cases For e.g., an individual with the name Mayur Rudani will have R as the fifth character. If you change your surname after marriage or due to any other reason, your PAN card number will remain unchanged. 6th to 9th Characters The next four numbers are sequential numbers running from 0001 to 9999. 10th Character The last digit is an alphabetic check digit which is generated by applying a formula to the preceding nine letters and numbers.