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UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani with Axis Bank CEO Shikha Sharma in Mumbai on Thursday. (PTI)
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Mumbai, Oct. 24: Axis Bank today launched an “e-KYC” facility, which will enable Aadhaar-registered individuals to open an account by providing the unique identification (UID) number and getting fingerprints scanned.
The paperless, instantaneous and secure facility has been approved by the finance ministry.
The country’s third-largest bank has introduced the facility in 1,000 branches across 400 centres. It will be extended to over 2,000 branches by the end of this month.
The mechanism is likely to be adopted by not only other banks but also mutual funds and insurance companies.
The e-KYC facility was launched by Nandan Nilekani, chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and Shikha Sharma, managing director and chief executive officer of Axis Bank, here today.
According to Axis Bank officials, a customer has to provide his Aadhaar number at the bank branch to open an account. The number will be verified with the UIDAI database through an authorised/KYC service agent.
The bank will then conduct a biometric scan of the fingers. After the details are confirmed by the UIDAI database, a transaction number will be generated and the account will be opened.
The facility will benefit customers who will not be required to submit details such as identity and address proof.
“We expect this e-KYC facility to add to the overall service experience and also enhance business efficiency. A key challenge for the customers, while opening bank accounts is providing address proof, identity proof and physical copies of documents. eKYC simplifies the process and provides a seamless customer experience to the Aadhaar-registered individuals to open bank accounts,” Sharma said.
Nilekani said e-KYC could be embraced by entities such as insurance companies and mutual funds. Individuals can also get mobile phone connections through the facility in the future. He said the key advantage of this facility was that it brought down transaction costs.
According to Nilekani, 460 million Aadhar numbers have so far been rolled out and the target is to generate 600 million by early next year.
Using the numbers as the base, the UIDAI has helped in rolling out a host of services, including direct subsidy transfer and person-to-person fund transfer through mobile phones.
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