What Is Aadhaar KYC? Know E-KYC For Aadhaar Card

With the growing importance of Aadhaar Card in India, it is necessary to know how to go about with its KYC verification. Read ahead to find out the means of undertaking the same.

All residents of India are eligible for Aadhaar card if they satisfy the verification process protocol set by the authority. This is a 12-digit unique identification number, containing biometric and certain demographic details of the cardholder associated with it. Aadhaar Card KYC is primarily used as ID for the transaction and official purposes with government and banking sectors and getting mobile connections. It is gradually becoming the primary ID card in private sectors Know Your Customer (KYC) through Aadhaar is a convenient way of KYC since it serves as proof for address and identity.

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has introduced e-KYC where the identity of the holder of a specific Aadhaar number could be verified online electronically. Aadhaar e-KYC is the mechanism of verifying a subscriber’s address and identity electronically. This process of e-KYC is paperless and accomplished through Aadhaar Authentication. E-KYC replaces the process of regular Aadhaar Card KYC (where producing the physical photocopy of the Address proof and ID proof documents are required).

Different financial industry sectors like banks and insurance companies as well as the government organizations, airports, passport offices, providers of payment gateways are entitled to undertake Aadhaar authentication using e-KYC. Aadhaar Card KYC electronically (e-KYC) involves the following steps:

• A customer provides the Aadhaar Number to the servicing entity.
• The customer’s biometrics like the retinal image or more preferably fingerprint is captured in a biometric scanner.
• Authentication is also done by sending OTP to the registered mobile.
• Once the biometric scanning is complete, data is sent to the UIDAI for verification through a secure network.
• The input data is matched with the value stored in the UIDAI database for that specific Aadhaar number.
• If the value matches, the identity of the prospective customer is assumed to be authentic.
• The UIDAI releases KYC details like name, date of birth, address, photograph, gender, mobile number, e-mail (if available) to the end-user in a secure way.
• The UIDAI allows the end-user to save a soft copy of all the details of the customer and store in a remote server. That way, the end-user entity has the freedom to access these data whenever needed.

• Aadhaar-based e-KYC verification services are accessible only to limited entities who are verified by the UIDAI. In this way, a customer’s KYC information will never fall in the hands of miscreants if e-KYC is used. E-KYC prevents the chance of fraudulent misuse of customer information.
• Reduces the risk of forging documents and protects the privacy of the customers and reduces identity theft.
• The UIDAI verifies the biometric scanners used by the authorised entities who use e-KYC, thus, giving another layer of protection to the process.
• E-KYC process gives instant, real-time verification often. This reduces the processing time of opening a bank account or purchasing a mobile SIM greatly. In fact, these could be done instantly saving much of the time
• E-KYC promotes paperless verification resulting in data security. This eliminates the movement and storage of physical documents.
• E-KYC meets compliance of the latest standards of Information Technology Amendment rules of 2011.
• E-KYC process is completely free of any cost

This is a secured document that could be shared by the Aadhaar card holder for offline identity verification. It eliminates the submission of physical copies for the Aadhaar card KYC. It is an XML which is digitally signed by the UIDAI and could be read by the machine. All the service providers who have provisions at their facilities to provide Aadhaar Paperless Offline e-KYC can use this facility for paperless verification. The e-KYC detail contains:

• Name
• Photograph
• Address
• Gender
• Date of birth
• Hash form of the registered mobile number
• Hash form of registered e-mail ID
• Reference ID, containing the last 4 digits of the Aadhaar card number followed by a timestamp

1. Go to the Aadhaar Paperless Offline e-KYC section and download the form. Fill up the form and submit it. That will generate the XML format of Aadhaar card using OTP sent to the registered mobile or through the mobile app. A ‘share code’ must be entered which will act as the password for the downloaded ZIP file. Click on ‘Download’ and get the Zip file downloaded.
2. ZIP file is the digitally signed XML and will be downloaded in the same device from where the above steps were carried out

Aadhaar offline e-KYC can be shared with verifying agency by the Aadhaar-number holder either in digital or physical format.

1. Digital Format – XML or PDF format could be shared along with the ‘Share code’ to the service provider to open the ZIP file. Digital format is suitable when the high-resolution photograph is required.
2. Printed format – Using QR Code. This is suitable for printed format and when the low-resolution photograph is enough.

• Direct access to the data – The Aadhaar-cardholder can share the information directly and this does not request the UIDAI for access repeatedly
• Privacy is maintained since the Aadhaar number is not exposed. A reference ID will be shared instead.
• Core biometrics like iris or fingerprint is not required for this type of verification.
• Aadhaar number holder has the option to select which data to be shared from the demographic data and photo.
• Aadhaar e-KYC could be downloaded, and it is digitally signed by the UIDAI. Hence it is authentic, and any tampering could be detected. That way, this method is much secured.
• Data could be validated by agencies by using their own mechanism of OTP or face authentication
• KYC data will be encrypted with the phrase which is provided by the Aadhaar number holder. This allows the control of data sharing by the number of holders and gives protection to personal data.

Apart from logging in the UIDAI portal, offline Aadhaar e-KYC data also will be available in the future through ‘mAadhaar’ mobile app from the user’s registered phone number, inbound SMS received in the registered mobile and in Aadhaar Kendra, where biometric authentication could be done. This will make it easier to get the Aadhaar e-KYC accessible to all. Aadhaar Offline e-KYC is optional and an Aadhaar number holder can decide whether to go for it or not.

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