Frequently asked Questions about Aadhaar card Enrollment

Frequently asked Questions ?

 A.Is it necessary to link bank account with Aadhaar?

As per gazette notification of Ministry of Finance, dated 1st June 2017, Individuals are required to provide Aadhaar number for linking all their bank accounts before 31st Dec 2017.

For residents not having Aadhaar it is suggested that they get themselves Enroled to get an Aadhaar.

 B. In case, Resident is an NRI/OCI card holder and having bank account in India but Resident doesn’t have Aadhaar. What will happen to his/her Bank account?

For NRIs it is suggested that they disclose their non-resident status with proof to their bank.

For the status of account becoming in-operational only the relevant banks shall be able to give response.

  C. Is it necessary to submit Aadhaar in Bank while transaction amount is INR 50,000 or above?

As per gazette notification of Ministry of Finance, dated 1st June 2017, Aadhaar will be sought for all transactions for an amount INR 50,000 or above.

 D. How is Aadhaar different from any other identity issued by the government?

Aadhaar is essentially a paperless online anytime-anywhere identity assigned to a resident to cover his/her entire lifetime. The verification of his identity is done online with the help of authentication devices which connect to UIDAI’s Central Identity Repository and return only a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response to the basic query-“Is the person who he/she claims to be?” based on the data available with UIDAI.

The Aadhaar authentication service is fully functional and in use in several service delivery schemes across the country. The Aadhaar Card or the e-Aadhaar (electronic copy of Aadhaar) are essentially given to residents to know their own Aadhaar, but are only the first step towards the actual use of the online id as explained in the preceding para.

E. Is it mandatory to enrol for Aadhaar to file tax returns or apply for PAN in India? If yes, then what is the process for NRIs?

Section 139AA of the Income-tax Act, 1961 as introduced by the Finance Act, 2017 provides for mandatory quoting of Aadhaar / Enrolment ID of Aadhaar application form, for filing of return of income and for making an application for allotment of Permanent Account Number with effect from 1st July, 2017.

It is clarified that such mandatory quoting of Aadhaar or Enrolment ID shall apply only to a person who is eligible to obtain Aadhaar number.

As per the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016, only a resident individual is entitled to obtain Aadhaar. Resident as per the said Act means an individual who has resided in India for a period or periods amounting in all to one hundred and eighty-two days or more in the twelve months immediately preceding the date of application for enrolment. Accordingly, the requirement to quote Aadhaar as per section 139AA of the Income-tax Act shall not apply to an individual who is not a resident as per the Aadhaar Act, 2016.

Aadhaar card based e-kyc Sample process flow would be as follows in bank

1. Customer walks into CSP of a bank with his/her 12-digit Aadhaar number and explicit consent and requests to open a bank account with Aadhaar based e-KYC.

2. Bank representative manning the CSP enters the number into bank’s eKYC application software.

3. The customer inputs his/her biometrics via a UIDAI compliant biometric reader (e.g. fingerprints on a biometric reader).

4. The software application captures the Aadhaar number along with biometric data, encrypts this data and sends it to UIDAI’s Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR).

5. The Aadhaar KYC service authenticates customer data. If the Aadhar number does not match with the biometrics, UIDAI server responds with an error with various reason codes depending on type of error (asdefined by UIDAI).

6. If the Aadhaar number matches with the biometrics, UIDAI responds with digitally signed and encrypted demographic information [Name,year/date of birth, Gender, Address, Phone and email (if available)] and photograph. This information is captured by bank’s e-KYC application and processed as needed.

7. Bank’s servers auto populate the demographic data and photograph in relevant fields. It also records the full audit trail of e-KYC viz. source of information, digital signatures, reference number, original request generation number, machine ID for device used to generate the request, date and time stamp with full trail of message routing, UIDAI encryption date and time stamp, bank’s decryption date and time stamp,etc.

8. The photograph and demographics of the customer can be seen on the screen of computer at bank branches or on a hand held device of BCs for reference.

9. The customer can open bank account subject to satisfying other account opening requirements.

Aadhar card e-kyc acceptance of Reserve bank of india

Operational Procedure to be followed by banks for e-KYC exercise

The e-KYC service of the UIDAI is be leveraged by banks through a secured network.

Any bank willing to use the UIDAI e-KYC service is required to sign an agreement with the UIDAI. The process flow to be followed is as follows:

A. Sign KYC User Agency (KUA) agreement with UIDAI to enable the bank to

specifically access e-KYC service.

B. Banks to deploy hardware and software for deployment of e-KYC service across various delivery channels. These should be Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) Institute, Department of Electronics & Information

Technology, Government of India certified biometric scanners at bank branches/ micro ATMs/ BC points as per UIDAI standards. 

C. Develop a software application to enable use of e-KYC across various Customer Service Points (CSP) (including bank branch, BCs etc.) as per UIDAI defined Application Programming Interface (API) protocols. For this purpose banks will have to develop their own software under the broad guidelines of UIDAI. Therefore, the software may differ from bank to bank.

D. Define a procedure for obtaining customer authorization to UIDAI for sharing eKYC data with the bank. This authorization can be in physical (by way of a written explicit consent authorising UIDAI to share his/her Aadhaar data with the bank/BC for the purpose of opening bank account) /electronic form as defined by UIDAI from time to time. 

The eKYC service offered by UIDAI will enable individuals to authorise service providers to receive electronic copy of their proof of identity and address. This is a first of its kind service, on any public platform. The service makes KYC instantaneous, totally secure and paperless while enhancing privacy of data. It brings business efficiency and opens doors to innovative service provision in a manner never experienced before on a comparable scale.

eKYC service can be deployed by different agencies to verify a resident's identity and address. Only DEMOGRAPHIC information (Name, Address, Date of Birth, Gender, Photograph & Mobile Number) that is collected during Aadhaar card enrolment will be shared, at the request of, and/or with the consent of the Aadhaar card holder.