Telcos want these eKYC charges to go

NEW DELHI: Mobile phone companies have urged the government to scrap the “unreasonably high” charges of Rs 41 for Aadhaar-based electronic-know your customer (e-KYC) authentication, saying it’s limiting the use of the facility for user verification.
“The only constraint in the adoption of this process presently is the unreasonably high authentication charges prescribed by UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India),” said SP Kochhar, director-general of Cellular Operators Association of India.
“The cost of each SIM activation increases by Rs 41, which is exorbitantly high as compared to the cost of other activation processes,” he said.
COAI represents Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea.