Skip to main content

Aadhaar-based KYC Likely Across Financial Sector

By
Aadhaar is on course to evolving into a comprehensive identification number for financial transactions, with the government deciding to introduce Aadhaar-enabled know-your customer regime across financial sector.

The government is holding consultations with all regulators including the Reserve Bank of India in this regard, officials said on Thursday, a day after Aadhaar was made mandatory for filing income tax returns and applying for permanent account number or PAN.

“Aadhaar e-KYC provides an instant, electronic and non-repudiable proof, besides updated contact details, which helps in further streamlining the process of service industry ,“ said a senior finance ministry official, who did not wish to be identified.

The government has through an amendment in the Finance Bill made Aadhaar, the 12-digit number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of In dia, mandatory for filing income tax returns and applying for PAN. “Those individuals who already have Aadhaar, will need to provide their thumb impression to any of the financial intermediaries. This will be then given to the reporting entity of the sector concerned, which will validate it from the UIDAI database,“ the official said.

Based on this data, a unique C KYC number will be generated by Central Registry of Securitisation and Asset Reconstruction and Security Interest of India or CERSAI.

“This number can be used across all financial products including bank accounts, mutual fund investments, demat accounts and insurance policies,“ said another official.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley had in Lok Sabha on Wednesday, during discussion on the amendments to the Finance Bill, come out strongly in favour of Aadhaar and said, “A stage may come that the unique identity will become the only card.“

Jaitley said that the government is putting it to use since 98% adults or more than 108 crore people in India having been issued Aadhaar, rejecting demands in Parliament to reconsider the proposal to make Aadhaar mandatory for PAN and income tax filing.

Aadhaar-based e-KYC facility will allow individuals or entities wanting to apply for PAN to verify details such as date of birth or address by way of biometric identification using thumb impressions.

Last year, CERSAI had launched the C-KYC initiative to ensure uniform KYC process across financial institutions.

In 2016, market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India had given consent to voluntary adoption of Aadhaar based e-KYC. All state-run banks have been directed to provide such updated data to the authority. 

24TH MARCH,2017,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,NEW-DELHI

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Household debt up, but India still lags emerging-market economies: RBI

By
  Although household debt in India is rising, driven by increased borrowing from the financial sector, it remains lower than in other emerging-market economies (EMEs), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its Financial Stability Report. It added that non-housing retail loans, largely taken for consumption, accounted for 55 per cent of total household debt.As of December 2024, India’s household debt-to-gross domestic product ratio stood at 41.9 per cent. “...Non-housing retail loans, which are mostly used for consumption purposes, formed 54.9 per cent of total household debt as of March 2025 and 25.7 per cent of disposable income as of March 2024. Moreover, the share of these loans has been growing consistently over the years, and their growth has outpaced that of both housing loans and agriculture and business loans,” the RBI said in its report.Housing loans, by contrast, made up 29 per cent of household debt, and their growth has remained steady. However, disaggregated data sho...
Post a Comment
Read more

External spillovers likely to hit India's financial system: RBI report

By
  While India’s growth remains insulated from global headwinds mainly due to buoyant domestic demand, the domestic financial system could, however, be impacted by external spillovers, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its half yearly Financial Stability Report published on Monday.Furthermore, the rising global trade disputes and intensifying geopolitical hostilities could negatively impact the domestic growth outlook and reduce the demand for bank credit, which has decelerated sharply. “Moreover, it could also lead to increased risk aversion among investors and further corrections in domestic equity markets, which despite the recent correction, remain at the high end of their historical range,” the report said.It noted that there is some build-up of stress, primarily in financial markets, on account of global spillovers, which is reflected in the marginal rise in the financial system stress indicator, an indicator of the stress level in the financial system, compared to its p...
Post a Comment
Read more

Retail inflation cools to a six-year low of 2.82% in May on moderating food prices

By
  New Delhi: Retail inflation in India cooled to its lowest level in over six years in May, helped by a sharp moderation in food prices, according to provisional government data released Thursday.Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation eased to 2.82% year-on-year, down from 3.16% in April and 4.8% in May last year, data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) showed. This marks the fourth consecutive month of sub-4% inflation, the longest such streak in at least five years.The data comes just days after the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee cut the repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.5%, its third straight cut and a cumulative reduction of 100 basis points since the easing cycle began in February. The move signals a possible pivot from inflation control to supporting growth.Food inflation came in at just 0.99% in May, down from 1.78% in April and a sharp decline from 8.69% a year ago.A Mint poll of 15 economists had projected CPI ...
Post a Comment
Read more