The Reserve Bank of India is permitting banks to use Aadhaar for KYC verification provided the customer consent such use. The central bank has amended its Master Direction on KYC, which now contains a new list of documents eligible for identification of individuals, including Aadhaar. It said in a release that banks have been allowed to carry out Aadhaar authentication/ offline-verification of an individual who voluntarily uses his Aadhaar number for identification purpose. The government had in February approved promulgation of an ordinance to allow voluntary use of Aadhaar number as identity proof for opening bank account and procuring mobile phone connection. The government had earlier got a bill passed by the Lok Sabha to this effect, but it was pending in the Rajya Sabha and would have lapsed with the dissolution of the current Lok Sabha. The ordinance gave effect to changes in the Aadhaar Act. RBI said for customer identification of individuals, those desirous of receiving any benefit or subsidy under direct benefit transfer (DBT), the bank concerned should obtain the customer’s Aadhaar and may carry out its eKYC authentication.
