Now Aadhaar can be used for opening bank accounts, procuring mobile connection

In a major decision that will cut down the KYC verification cost of telecom companies and banks, President has approved the Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019 that will permit the use of Aadhaar number by for opening bank accounts and for procuring mobile connections.

These sectors were the worst hit following the Supreme Court’s landmark judgement delivered in September 2018 that had effectively banned even voluntary use of Aadhaar by private telecom companies and scheduled commercial banks.

The Apex court had also struck down section 57 of the Aadhaar Act of 2016 that permitted private entities to seek Aadhaar data for carrying out Aadhaar based e-KYC. In fact, subsequent to the judgement, department of telecommunication (DoT) had written to all telecom service providers to immediately stop using Aadhaar based e-KYC verification for re-verification and for issuing new mobile connections.