"...It has been decided that PAN would be the sole identification number for all participants transacting in the securities market, irrespective of the amount of transaction," Securities and Exchange Board of India said in a circular issued on Friday.
The regulator has asked all the intermediaries to put in place the necessary infrastructure to facilitate any query based on PAN for getting the details of clients' transactions.
It has also asked the stock exchanges and depositories to make necessary amendments in the relevant bye-laws, rules and regulations for the immediate implementation of the decision.
SEBI took the decision following Finance Minister P Chidambaram's budget proposal to make PAN the sole identification number for all participants in the securities market with an alpha-numeric prefix or suffix to distinguish a particular kind of account.
Earlier, Association of Mutual Funds of India had decided to come out with a Mutual Fund Identification Number, but the idea was dropped after the budget announcement.
Already, investors who have not submitted their PAN to the depositories are not allowed to trade in securities.