The CEO of UIDAI said that with Aadhaar authentication, accounts can be opened almost instantaneously.
Reportedly, post the amendments in the Aadhaar Act and PMLA, and Telegraph Act, a person can open a bank account, a mutual fund, get a mobile connection or open a demat account, right after Aadhaar authentication. Earlier, a lot of physical documents were required to be submitted and banks had a difficult time authenticating various documents (including paper Driving License and Aadhar Card).
With Aadhaar authentication, accounts can be opened instantaneously through OPT verification process.
This amendment will benefit 124 crore Aadhaar numbers which have already been issued. Over a period of time, people need to update their addresses, mobile numbers, names, etc., on their Aadhar cards. Children post the age of 15 years are required to update their biometric data. In addition, CEO of UIDAI, Ajay Bhushan Pandey stated that “We anticipate around 25 crore people will update their Aadhaar annually, which means around 10 lakh updates every day, considering that there are 20 working days. New enrollments are down to around 70,000-80,000 per day, but around 4 lakh update requests are coming every day.”
He further stated “Many Aadhaar services are now available online, but wherever biometric is involved, people have to visit a centre at one of the 11,000 bank branches or the 12,000 post offices or other government offices. We are also starting 114 Aadhaar Sewa Kendras in 53 cities, where eight to 16 Aadhaar enrolment and update machines will be available. People have the option of providing information online and taking an appointment for providing their biometric details. They then need to take a printout that will have a QR Code, which will ensure that the entire information does not have to be filled all over again at the Aadhaar centres.”
