In a step that could significantly simplify the process of opening bank accounts, making it a matter of a few minutes, all branches of banks across the country will become Aadhaar-enabled by early next month, allowing customers to open accounts with just their 12-digit Aadhaar number.
By Ruhi Tewari
According to government officials, the Department of Financial Services has asked banks to ensure all their branches are linked to Aadhaar. Officials say all important banks are already on the Aadhaar platform, with some — including the State Bank of India — having put all their branches on the Aadhaar map. Branches of all banks across the country are now in the process of being integrated with Aadhaar, a process expected to be completed by the first week of September.
“Currently, around 30,000 of the 80,000-odd bank branches across the country are already on the Aadhaar platform. Work is on to integrate the rest also. Aadhaar will be an enabler, an authentication user agency,” an official said. Essentially, Aadhaar will serve as the KYC for opening bank accounts.
Officials also say this could change the face of banking in the country, nearly eliminating the paper work and documentation needed. “Once the entire process is completed, a customer can walk into any branch of any bank across the country and open an account with just his/her 12-digit Aadhaar number and biometrics. No paperwork, no documents would be needed, not even a photograph. It reduces the time of opening an account drastically, while making the process much more user-friendly,” an official said.
Currently, the enrollment under Aadhaar is 70 crore, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought a “100-crore enrollment target at the earliest”.
The Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan Yojana, launched earlier this week, is also based on Aadhaar wherein the beneficiaries can open their bank accounts using their 12-digit numbers, while those who don’t have Aadhaar, will first be enrolled under it by banks before their accounts are opened. This effectively means Aadhaar would be indispensable to the scheme.