In a recently issued circular, the Reserve Bank of India cleared its stand on the Know your Customer norms required to be adhered by every Bank while opening an account for a customer. We have come across various news bytes as well as cases where a customer’s Aadhaar card was rejected as a valid proof. But that is not legally right.
A customer is required to submit a Proof of Identity (POI) and Proof of Address (POA) at the time of opening an account with a bank. According to the circular issued by RBI while a PAN Card testifies only as a Proof of Identity, an Aadhaar Card stands true for being both a POI as well as POA. Here’s a small excerpt of the circular issued by RBI indicating its stand on acceptance of Aadhar as a valid POI and POA.
[su_pullquote][su_highlight]Acceptance of Aadhaar letter for KYC purposes – Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has advised Reserve Bank that banks are accepting Aadhaar letter issued by it as a proof of identity but not of address, for opening accounts. If the address provided by the account holder is the same as that on Aadhaar letter, it may be accepted as a proof of both identity and address. [/su_highlight][/su_pullquote] The entire circular can be accessed by clicking here. On non-acceptance of Aadhaar by a bank as a documentary POI and POA, the customer can bring it to the notice of the ‘Customer Service Section / Grievance Redressal Officer’ displayed in the branch premises, and also made available on their website. Only in cases where there is a change in the address of the customer from the one registered in Aadhaar, the customer needs provide a separate copy of the latest proof of address.You have now been empowered with this fact by Power to Consumer. If you or any of your relative or friend or colleague is facing resistance from a bank official in accepting ‘Aadhaar’ as POI / POA, we are here to help you. Please feel free to pose your query on our website. Meanwhile, help us by spreading this piece of information in your social circles.
Image By Ali Rizvi, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53426654