The Association of Mutual Funds in India and CDSL Ventures are working on a finance ministry proposal to make use of the permanent account number as the mutual fund identification number. The MIN is mandatory for investments above Rs 50,000.

The ministry is learned to have written to the Securities and Exchange Board of India and Amfi over the issue, as the latter is facing criticism from a section of investors and distributors for introducing the investor identification norms in a hurried manner.

CVL is making changes in the MIN allotment procedure and is likely to do away with scanning of certified documents at the point of service centres. Now, it plans to scan documents at its centralised data centre instead of the PoS. The change is expected to speed up the procedure.

"The ministry has advised whether the PAN could be used as a code number for issuing the MIN. We are exploring possibilities of its implementation," Amfi chairman A P Kurian said.

CVL chief executive officer Cyrus Khambata said: "The proposal means the MIN would feature the PAN number and those who don't have a PAN would be allotted new numbers."

However, investors have to submit identity proofs and income details.

Meanwhile, distributors are facing issues in the MIN allotment.  "Following the huge number of applications received, it's taking more than a week to get the number," said a top distributor.