‘Voluntary Aadhaar eKYC for bank accounts, mobile, MFs soon’

Ajay Bhushan Pandey wears many hats — he is revenue secy, heads GST Network & is also the CEO of UIDAI. Pandey spoke to Rajeev Deshpande & Sidhartha about the impact of the recent amendments to the Aadhaar Act, while touching on the govt’s consultations on the economy, which are under way. Excerpts:

The Aadhaar Act and PMLA have been amended, when can we expect the voluntary use of e-KYC notified for opening bank accounts or getting a mobile connection using Aadhaar?
After the Supreme Court judgment people could not have opened bank accounts on the basis of Aadhaar authentication, even voluntarily. Now, after the amendments in the Aadhaar Act and PMLA, and Telegraph Act, on a voluntary basis, a person can open a bank account, a mobile connection or a mutual fund or open a demat account after Aadhaar authentication. That will make life very easy for people as 124 crore people now have Aadhaar.