PAN / Instant e-PAN services document requirements

First, check whether you need to upload anything

PAN applicants usually arrive on this page through one of two routes, and only one of them involves files. If you are applying through Instant e-PAN with Aadhaar, no photo or document upload is needed, so you can stop here. The size limits below apply to the Protean (NSDL) online application signed with a Digital Signature Certificate (DSC), where you attach your own photograph, signature and supporting proofs.

These figures come from Protean's guidelines for a new PAN application, checked on 2 Oct 2026. PAN processes are revised from time to time, so read the current Protean guidelines and the Income Tax e-filing portal before you submit.

The three files, in plain words

• Photograph: a colour JPEG, scanned at 200 DPI, no bigger than 20 KB, at a size of 3.5 x 2.5 cm.
• Signature: a colour JPEG, scanned at 200 DPI, no bigger than 10 KB, at a size of 2 x 4.5 cm.
• Proof of identity, address and date of birth: a black and white scan at 200 DPI, saved as PDF/A or JPEG, with each page no bigger than 300 KB.

These ceilings are small. A picture straight off a phone camera is usually far larger, so nearly everyone has to reduce their files. The aim is to reduce them in a sensible order, so that your face and your signature stay crisp instead of turning into blocks.

Fitting a clear photo into 20 KB

With so few bytes to spend, the starting picture matters a lot. If you have a printed passport-style photo, scan it in colour at 200 DPI, as the guidelines describe. If you are taking a fresh one, stand facing a plain wall in daylight, keep the phone at eye level and avoid digital zoom, which adds grain that wastes space.

Crop before you compress. Trim the extra wall and background so the picture has the same proportions as a 3.5 x 2.5 cm print, with your head and shoulders filling the frame. Image Crop lets you drag a box around the part you want to keep. Then open Image Fit to KB, set the upper limit to 20 KB, and let it pick the highest quality that still fits.

If the result looks patchy, do not keep squeezing it. A loose crop or a dim photo is usually the cause, and retaking the picture in better light gives a cleaner result than another round of compression.

A signature that survives 10 KB

The signature gets half the room of the photo, but it is a far simpler image, so it compresses well when prepared with care. Sign on clean white paper with a dark ink pen and a steady, unbroken stroke. Scan the sheet in colour at 200 DPI, or photograph it lying flat with no shadow from your hand or phone falling across it.

Next, crop tightly into a wide strip that matches the 2 x 4.5 cm shape. Empty white margin still costs bytes, so the tighter the crop, the more of the 10 KB goes on the ink itself. If your phone saved the picture as PNG or HEIC, change it to JPEG with Image Convert first, because JPEG is the only image format listed for the photo and signature.

Proof documents at 300 KB a page

The guidelines ask for black and white scans of your identity, address and date-of-birth proofs. That works in your favour: dropping colour makes each page lighter while keeping the printed text sharp. Place the document flat on the scanner glass, keep all four edges in view, and zoom in afterwards to make sure your name, the document number and dates can be read without guessing.

The 300 KB limit is stated per page, so check each page rather than only the total. If you photographed the proofs on your phone, Scan to PDF turns those photos into a single PDF, and Compress PDF brings an oversized file down towards a KB target.

The guidelines name PDF/A, an archival form of PDF, and an everyday PDF from a phone app may not be PDF/A. If the portal refuses your PDF, try uploading each page as a JPEG instead, which the same guidelines also allow.

A short order of work

1. Confirm your route. On Instant e-PAN through Aadhaar, there is nothing to prepare.
2. Scan or photograph the photo, signature and proofs in good, even light.
3. Crop each image to its shape before changing its size.
4. Bring the photo under 20 KB, the signature under 10 KB and each proof page under 300 KB.
5. Run the files through Portal Preflight for PAN, which compares format and size with the limits above.
6. Upload, then check that each file sits in the right slot before you sign and submit.

Every DocNimble tool mentioned here runs in your browser, and your files are not uploaded to DocNimble. That is worth knowing when the documents carry your date of birth and home address.