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Meet India's youngest PAN Card holder

July 16, 2007 14:04 IST
He has an income; there are investments in his name and, on March 26 this year, Krishhey Thacker, son of Sameer and Krupa Thacker, got his PAN card.

That he was, on that date, just 56 days old gives the whole 'catch them young' cliche a whole new definition.

Is the Krishhey story an exemplar of the obsession for setting 'records' and seeing your name in various compilations?

Or is it the story of a man remembering what his parents had done for him, and taking that one logical step further?

Krishhey's entry into the record books as the youngest holder of a PAN card ever owes a little to both those factors.

Sameer's father, a dealer in pulses and oils, had roped him into the family business, and made him an income tax assessee, when he was just eight. That memory lingered -- and bred in Sameer the idea of fast-tracking his son, with investments currently to the tune of Rs 100,000 in his name, a PAN card, et al.

The next step, Sameer says, is to make son Krishhey a partner in his stock-brocking business.

"I have always been bullish about the market," Sameer says, when asked whether it is wise to invest sizeable sums in the

name of his son. "I have confidence in the Indian economy. I am sure I will get much higher returns than a bank deposit will give me."

The entry into the record books splashed the story of Ayush Ranjan Rout, a three-month-old baby from Rourkela, in Orissa, who had acquired a PAN card.

When the Thackers watched the story on television, they decided to correct the error, and informed the media that their own son Krishhey -- named, incidentally, after the Hrithik Roshan character Krissh, in the movie of that name -- had lowered the record, getting his PAN card when not yet two months old.

While Sameer focuses on the child's economic development, mother Krupa, a dentist in Mumbai, is busy planning her infant son's immediate future.

"There are many good schools in this area," she says. "We will put him in the best."

Unaware of the fuss he is creating, Krishhey is busy enjoying babyhood, with a maid to look after his needs and grandparents to pamper him during the day, when his parents are away at work.

Meanwhile, with the media awash with the story of two precocious infants getting PAN cards, stand by for ambitious parents looking to lower the record.

Text: A Ganesh Nadar | Photographs: Uday Kuckian