National Automated Clearing House (NACH) Procedural Guidelines

Aadhaar Payments Bridge (APB)

System
Standard Operating Procedure

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 National Automated Clearing House (NACH) Procedural Guidelines

Table of Contents

Contents
1. BACKGROUND ........................................................................................................................................ 3

2. JOINING THE NETWORK .......................................................................................................................... 4

3. SEEDING OF AADHAAR NUMBERS .......................................................................................................... 5

4. FACILITY TO CHECK THE AADHAAR SEEDING STATUS .............................................................................. 7

5. DE-SEEDING ............................................................................................................................................ 7

6. OVERDRAFT FLAG ................................................................................................................................... 8

7. RECONCILIATION BETWEEN AADHAAR NUMBERS IN CBS WITH NPCI MAPPER....................................... 9

8. MOVED OUT DATA................................................................................................................................ 10

9. RESEEDING............................................................................................................................................ 11

10. PROCESSING THE TRANSACTIONS AS A SPONSOR BANK ....................................................................... 11

11. PROCESSING THE TRANSACTIONS AS A DESTINATION BANK ................................................................ 13

12. RETURN ANALYSIS AND CORRECTIVE ACTION ....................................................................................... 14

13. DISPUTE MANAGEMENT ....................................................................................................................... 16

14. GRIEVANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (GMS) .......................................................................................... 17

ANNEXURE I – ON BOARDING OF BANKS ...................................................................................................... 18

ANNEXURE II – FORMAT FOR UPDATING AADHAAR NUMBER WITH BANK ................................................... 19

ANNEXURE III – FORMAT FOR NORMAL SEEDING OF AADHAAR NUMBER WITH BANK ................................. 20

ANNEXURE IV – MAPPER FILE FORMAT ......................................................................................................... 21

ANNEXURE V – MAPPER REJECT CODES ........................................................................................................ 22

ANNEXURE VI – ROOT CAUSE OF ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS ............................................................................ 23

ANNEXURE VII – APB FILE FORMAT ............................................................................................................... 24

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 National Automated Clearing House (NACH) Procedural Guidelines

1. Background
Aadhaar Payments Bridge System facilitates end-to-end processing of bulk electronic
payment instructions primarily facilitating the government departments to disburse the
Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT). In APB system, transactions are routed to a bank based
on the mapping of Aadhaar number to the IIN of a bank. The participating banks have
to perform a number of activities to complete the mapping and un-mapping of Aadhaar
number in the NPCI mapper database. This document defines the standard operating
procedure to be followed by the member banks for the following activities
a) Join the APB system as a participant
b) Seeding the Aadhaar number
c) De-seeding the Aadhaar number
d) Marking/unmarking OD flag
e) Reconciliation between Aadhaar numbers in mapper with NPCI mapper
f) Processing the transactions as a sponsor bank
g) Processing the transactions as a destination bank

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 National Automated Clearing House (NACH) Procedural Guidelines

2. Joining the network

Banks have to submit a set of documents as provided in Annexure I. On receipt of the
documents NPCI will scrutinize the documents. If there is any discrepancy, the same
will be notified to the bank for corrective action or if the documents are found to be
in order the same will be taken up for further processing.

Pre-requisites:

The bank aspiring to join APB network should have the following capabilities
a) Automated solution for preparing a mapper file
b) Aadhaar seeding capability in core banking solution
c) Ability to upload the inward file received from NACH into core banking and
generate response files with relevant reason codes, in case of returns
d) Ability to prepare the presentation file in the format required by NACH
e) In case of high volume, it is desirable to have host to host (H2H) facility for
automated submission of presentation and processing of inward files.

Certification

a) Bank has to submit a sample mapper file prepared from their core banking.
b) NPCI will provide the response file to the mapper file presented by the bank.
Bank should test the response file by uploading into their core banking or any
intermediate system as may be set up.
c) The bank should build a process around verification of Aadhaar mapper response
files, identifying the rejects and taking corrective action for rejected records.
d) After the mapper file is certified for the correctness of the format bank should
submit a transaction presentation file.
e) NPCI will process the presentation file and provide the corresponding inward
file. The bank should be able to consume the inward file.
f) Bank should handle the inward and submit the response file by marking a few
records as returns for testing purpose.
g) NPCI will provide the acknowledgement file for the return/response file
submitted by the bank.
h) NPCI will also provide a final response file for the input file uploaded prepared
by the bank. Bank should build a process around verification of
acknowledgement file, identification of rejects and taking corrective action and
also be able to process the final response file received from NPCI.
i) With the completion of this process, the bank will be certified to participate in
APBS.

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 National Automated Clearing House (NACH) Procedural Guidelines

On us testing in live environment

a) After the certification is done, bank should upload transactions as a sponsor
bank
b) Bank has to directly upload Aadhaar numbers belong to their own account
holders in the NPCI mapper database (only one or two records for on us
testing)
c) After this, bank has to upload an on us file in live session and complete the
processing of inward and uploading the return file successfully.
d) Post this the bank will be declared live and the same will be updated in the
website and landing page of NACH.

3. Seeding of Aadhaar numbers

Seeding of Aadhaar numbers has got two steps
1. Verification and updation of Aadhaar number in the core banking
2. Seeding the Aadhaar number in NPCI mapper
Banks should take utmost care in seeding the Aadhaar number into an account. Once
the Aadhaar number is seeded, then that account shall become eligible to receive Direct
Benefit Transfers (DBT) credits from the government. Incorrect mapping will lead to
wrong credits. The following steps should be followed by the bank for seeding an
Aadhaar number
1) The bank should define a clear process, listing the documents to be submitted
by the customer for verification and seeding of Aadhaar numbers.
2) The following documents should be part of the list of documents to be submitted
by the customer for verification
a. Copy of the Aadhaar card
b. Written mandate by the customer – format in Annexure II given for
seeding Aadhaar number with bank account for LPG. Form for normal
seeding is given in annexure III.
c. Any other document as may be required by the banks depending on their
internal approval process.
3) Under no circumstance the Aadhaar seeding should be done without a written
consent of the customer.
4) If the documentary proof submitted is not in line with the internal procedures of
the bank, then such request for Aadhaar seeding should be rejected with advise
to the customer the deficiencies to be rectified.
5) On being satisfied with the documentary proof the bank should first issue an
acknowledgement for the seeding request and then proceed to update the
Aadhaar number in their core banking system (CBS).
6) As a first step of seeding, verification should be done whether the account is
eligible to receive the credits pertaining to the direct benefit transfers. If the
account is not eligible to receive the credits then the seeding request should be
returned to the customer with appropriate reason. Few examples
a. NRE account
b. Loan account
c. PPF account
d. Blocked/frozen account

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 National Automated Clearing House (NACH) Procedural Guidelines

(The list is only indicative. Any account that is not eligible to receive credits
should not be seeded with NPCI. Such seeding request should be rejected, with
the reason for such rejection)
7) Bank should have distinct fields for updating the Aadhaar number submitted for
KYC purpose and Aadhaar for seeding purpose.
8) Under no circumstances the Aadhaar number submitted as a part of KYC be
seeded in NPCI mapper. The seeding should only be subject to explicit request
from customer for receiving the Aadhaar based payments and also subject to
submission of written consent (mandate) by the customer.
9) Based on the purpose for which Aadhaar number is submitted by the customer,
the bank official should update the number in the relevant field in core banking.
10) Banks should implement the verhoeff algorithm for checking the validity of the
Aadhaar numbers.
11) Bank should have automated process with a minimum of one time download of
all Aadhaar numbers submitted for seeding purpose to be uploaded into NPCI
mapper. It is recommended that banks should have process for multiple
download and upload processes during a day.
12) The downloaded data should be as per the format specified by NPCI for mapper
upload (Annexure IV). After the seeding file is uploaded, the NPCI mapper will
provide a response file indicating whether all the records are updated in the
mapper or some records are rejected.
13) Banks should have monitoring mechanism to verify the response files received
from Aadhaar mapper and take corrective action at their end.
14) The list of reasons for rejection in Aadhaar mapper is provided in Annexure V.
15) There should be a provision in CBS to update the status of seeding in NPCI
mapper. If the Aadhaar number is rejected by the mapper during the seeding
process, the reason for the reject should be updated in CBS.
16) Bank should send a communication to the customer on seeding of Aadhaar
number with seeding date in case of successful seeding. In case of unsuccessful
seeding the communication should be sent along with the reason for rejection.
It is preferable to send SMS wherever customer has registered his mobile number.
17) The front desk officer/staff should be trained well, to understand that, updating
the Aadhaar number in CBS does not mean completion of mapping. Banks should
have standard operating procedure to facilitate smooth seeding of Aadhaar
numbers. The staff should be given training on all the mapper related matters.
The offers/staff should be given a provision to check for seeding status to enable
them to answer the customer queries. The officer/staff should be able to
communicate to the customer, the reason for rejection as well.

Note
a) If two different banks seed the same Aadhaar number to the account of the
customer in their respective banks and NPCI, the bank seeding with the latest
mandate date will be mapped in the NPCI mapper and all the subsidies will be
routed to that bank only.
b) In case of joint account the bank should have a provision to map to the customer
ID of each of the joint account holders.

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 National Automated Clearing House (NACH) Procedural Guidelines

c) In case of seeding a joint account the bank should inform the applicant, of such
seeding, that the benefits received in the account will be available to all the
account holders based on the operating instructions of the joint account
concerned.
d) Mapping of same Aadhaar number to multiple accounts should be avoided.

4. Facility to check the Aadhaar seeding status

Banks should make necessary arrangements to enable the staff as well as the
customer to check the Aadhaar mapping status. Either one or all the methods
given below can be used to facilitate this
i) The Aadhaar mapper status should be updated in CBS and the staff should
be able to view the status.
ii) The facility may be extended to the customer through internet banking
or ATM network or any other alternate channels.
iii) The API facility provided by NPCI should be implemented to provide
online status to the staff. API document given as attachment.
iv) *99*99# may be popularized so that the customers themselves can check
the mapping status even with their basic mobile phones (Note: service
provider will charge for this service).
v) Banks staff having access to NACH system can view the mapping status
using MIS tab.
vi) Aadhaar look up facility can be availed from NPCI to ascertain mapping
status of large number of Aadhaar numbers.

5. De-seeding
In the event of an account, for Aadhaar number is seeded in NPCI for receiving the
benefits becoming ineligible to receive the credits, the bank should take immediate
steps to de-seed such an Aadhaar numbers from NPCI mapper. The following are the
events that should trigger deseeding
1. Account closed
2. Account holder expired
3. Customer insolvent/ Account holder became insane
4. Account Under Litigation
5. Account blocked or frozen
Customer consent is not required for de-seeding Aadhaar numbers in the above cases.
a) Banks should deseed the Aadhaar number once the account becomes ineligible for
receiving the credit.
b) In case of an account being frozen or blocked temporarily, the Aadhaar number
mapped to the account should be deseeded with a facility to reseed the account in
the event of its activation. This process should be automated and there should not
be any manual intervention.
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 National Automated Clearing House (NACH) Procedural Guidelines

c) The bank should have standard operating procedure for deseeding the Aadhaar
number on the basis of customer request.
d) Once the deseeding process is executed in core banking, batch processing should be
initiated at periodic time intervals to download the deseeding files in the format
specified by NPCI
e) Deseeding should be an automated process and carried out at frequent intervals on
each day with a minimum of one time at EOD of core banking.
f) There should be a process to monitor the response files received from the mapper
to ensure deseeding is completed. If there is any rejection the bank should verify
the reason for rejection and take corrective action immediately.
g) The final status of deseeding should be updated in core banking system so that the
front desk officer/staff will be able to see the seeding/deseeding status and
communicate to the customer.
h) Deseeding communication should be sent to the customer. If the customer has
registered his mobile number, then a SMS may be sent to this effect.
Note:
1) Deseeding should be an automated process and carried out at frequent intervals
on each day with a minimum of one time at EOD of core banking.
2) Banks should deseed the Aadhaar number once the account becomes ineligible
for receiving the credit.
3) In case of an account being frozen or blocked temporarily, the Aadhaar number
mapped to the account should be deseeded with a facility to reseed the account
in the event of its activation.

6. Overdraft flag
Under Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana, banks can allow overdraft facility as may be
decided by the government from time to time. In the event of sanctioning such facility
to their customers, the banks should ensure that the OD flag is updated in the Aadhaar
mapper. The below process should be strictly followed while sanctioning OD.
1) When the customer approaches the bank for OD, the staff should first check the
Aadhaar mapping.
2) OD can be granted only if the Aadhaar number is mapped to that bank and
benefits are transferred to the account held with that bank.
3) In case the Aadhaar number is already linked to a different bank with OD, the
request need to be rejected and informed to the customer.

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4) If the Aadhaar is not mapped with the bank, then the customer should be
intimated about the same. If the customer prefers to have OD with the current
bank, then the bank should first obtain the Aadhaar mapping mandate from the
customer.
5) Bank should follow the process detailed in “Aadhaar seeding process’ section of
this document.
6) After confirming the completion of Aadhaar mapping the bank may proceed to
grant OD as per the laid down process and eligibility of the customer.
7) OD flag will act as an indicator to all the banks for verification and avoiding
duplication of OD facility to the same customer.
8) The bank should not allow utilization of funds in the OD account until the OD flag
updation in NPCI mapper is confirmed.
9) After the repayment of OD by the customer, the bank should ensure that the OD
flag in NPCI mapper is removed.
10) A confirmation to this effect should be given by the bank to the customer. If the
customer has registered his/her mobile number, then SMS should be sent to the
customer.

7. Reconciliation between Aadhaar numbers in CBS with NPCI

mapper
While daily seeding and deseeding of Aadhaar numbers will ensure that the Aadhaar
database in CBS of the bank is in sync with NPCI mapper, it is essential for the banks to
do periodic reconciliation between these two databases to ensure everything is in order.
a) The bank should obtain mapper data from NPCI on a periodic basis. It is
recommended that the reconciliation is done on monthly basis.
b) The Aadhaar numbers in NPCI mapper should be compared with the Aadhaar
numbers in CBS.
c) If some Aadhaar numbers are present only in NPCI mapper and not in core
banking, then bank should investigate to find out the root cause. Given that
banks are expected to seed first in CBS and after that seeded in NPCI. As Mapper
updation is expected to be an automated process, this scenario should not arise.
(Note: Practically many banks return the transactions with the reason ‘Aadhaar
number not mapped to account number’. This effectively means either the bank has
updated the mapper without updating in their core banking or there is an issue in
core banking resulting in system not being able to map the Aadhaar number back to
account number based on seeding at the time of transaction processing).
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d) The bank should identify the issue and take immediate and permanent corrective
action. This problem should not recur.
e) If some Aadhaar numbers are available in CBS, but not in NPCI mapper, it means
that these Aadhaar numbers are not seeded in NPCI mapper or these Aadhaar
numbers were rejected during the mapper upload process that was not properly
monitored and corrected at that point in time. The bank should verify their core
banking and follow the seeding process to seed these Aadhaar numbers again and
reconcile with the response files to ensure seeding is completed.
f) Further to the above reconciliation, banks should have a standard process to
download all Aadhaar numbers that are seeded for the accounts that are closed,
blocked or frozen, customer deceased or become insane and deseed these
Aadhaar numbers once a month so that any residual Aadhaar number that were
not de-seeded due to any technical glitch will be de-seeded.

8. Moved out data

a) When a bank receives a request from the customer for seeding, they may not be
able to identify if the customer has an account with some other bank and seeding
has been given to the other bank as well.
b) If a bank tries to map an Aadhaar number in NPCI mapper and if such Aadhaar
number, if already mapped to another bank, subject to the new bank confirming
that they have got customer mandate, the system will either move the Aadhaar
mapping to the new bank or reject such request for updation.
c) As detailed in the seeding process the bank should verify the documentary proof
and eligibility of an account to receive the subsidy before proceeding with
Aadhaar mapping.
d) Confirmation of having obtained the customer mandate should be given in
Aadhaar seeding input file with mandate flag ‘Y’ and the date on which mandate
is obtained.
e) On every day, through scheduler reports, APB system will provide the list of
Aadhaar numbers that have moved out from each of the affected banks.
f) The bank should obtain the list on daily basis and ensure that all the Aadhaar
numbers listed in the moved out report are deseeded in their CBS. This process
will ensure that CBS is in sync with the Aadhaar mapper of NPCI.
g) Deseeding data along with the reason for deseeding should be made available to
front desk staff/officers so that they can answer customer queries.

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h) Bank should send a communication to the customer on de-seeding of the Aadhaar

number with date along with the reason of de-seeding as “seeded with alternate
bank”. It is preferable to send SMS wherever customer mobile number is
registered.

9. Reseeding
a) If a customer whose Aadhaar number is deseeded from NPCI mapper approaches
the same bank again for seeding his Aadhaar number, the bank should have
provision for such reseeding.
b) The front desk staff/official should be trained to handle reseeding.
(Note: Normally the front desk officials verify their CBS and if the Aadhaar
number is linked to the account of the customer they confirm that the Aadhaar
is already seeded)
c) Even if the Aadhaar number is appearing in the CBS, it may be possible that the
bank has not removed the Aadhaar number from CBS despite deseeding the same
from NPCI or the Aadhaar number having moved out to another bank.
d) When a request for seeding is received, the bank should make a provision in the
CBS to enable the staff to trigger re-seeding process, even if the Aadhaar number
is already available in the CBS.
e) The process will ensure that the Aadhaar numbers will be downloaded as a part
of the data files that are sent to NPCI mapper at periodic intervals for seeding.
f) The process detailed in the section ‘seeding’ should be scrupulously followed for
reseeding as well.

10. Processing the transactions as a sponsor bank

a) Banks should prepare or get the files in the format and size prescribed by NPCI
from time to time. File format given in Annexure VII
b) Sponsor bank should ensure that the transactions are uploaded with proper
scheme code and state code.
c) If proper user code is not available, sponsor banks should approach NPCI to get
the corporate created before the files are uploaded to NACH.
d) Use the vlookup facility to check the seeding status of the Aadhaar number to
avoid rejections at the time of transaction file upload
e) It is the responsibility of the sponsor bank to ensure that the data received from
the department is not tampered with and only correct transaction amount is
uploaded into NACH system.
f) The bank should first check whether the funds are available or necessary
arrangement with the department is in place for processing the files.

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g) Only if funds or the arrangement is available bank should upload the files into
NACH system. It is recommended that the bank implement host to host (H2H)
functionality to automate the process.
h) Upload the file without the IIN number of the destination bank. NACH system has
the capability to update the IIN number from the mapper database.
Note: - in case of wrong IIN being given in the input file, the transaction will get
rejected.
i) Sponsor bank should have maker/checker concept and provide resources
accordingly.
j) After the file is authorized by the checker, APB system after processing the file
will provide an acknowledgement. This could be positive or negative.
k) The status of the file uploaded should be checked.
l) There should be monitoring mechanism at the bank to ensure verification of the
status of all the files uploaded and downloaded.
m) The system will show the file status as “Accepted” if processed successfully
otherwise it will show the file status as “Rejected or Partial”.
n) The file may be rejected fully or partially. Banks should analyse the rejects and
take corrective action as may be required.
o) In case of files rejected, that could not be processed by the banks, necessary
communication should be sent to the respective departments.
p) After the presentation session is completed the sponsor bank should reconcile
the amount of the presentation files with the settlement received in the account
maintained with RBI.
q) In case of any discrepancy in settlement report the bank should first check
whether any rejected files are left out without remediation and re-upload. If
further clarification is required the bank officials should get in touch with NPCI
for necessary details. This process has to be followed for all the presentation
and return sessions.
No session should be left unreconciled with the settlement.
r) After the return session is completed APB system will provide response files to
the sponsor bank with status of the transactions at record level. The following
are the possible types of status
a. Successful (flag 1)
b. Returned (flag 0)
c. Extended (flag 3)
d. Rejected (flag 2)

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s) Sponsor bank should have the capability to consume the response files and
provide a final response file to the department who has originated the
transactions.
t) In case of returned transactions the consolidated amount should be credited back
to the account maintained by the department with the bank as per the agreed
process and timeline with the department concerned.
u) There should be a process to provide a detailed return report in the format
required by the department concerned.
v) In case of extended transaction, sponsor bank should provide interim status to
the government department and provide the final response files after the same
is received on the next working day.
w) Banks should develop capability to handle multiple extensions and to consume
record level status.
x) In case of APB transactions, the destination bank at the time of submitting the
response files provide the account number and name of the beneficiary for each
of the transactions. This should be an automated process.
y) Sponsor bank should be able to share this information with the Government
departments.
z) NPCI will make the beneficiary name and account number field mandatory, if the
specified data is not provided NACH system will reject such transactions resulting
in deemed acceptance. Banks should ensure that no transactions will become
deemed accepted.

11. Processing the transactions as a destination bank

a) Destination banks should seed the Aadhaar number only if the bank has
completed the go live process for APB.
b) The destination bank should put in place, automated process for processing the
inward files received through the APB system. The system should be sufficiently
scaled up to handle peak volume with a head room for another 40% increase in
volume.
c) The processing capacity to be reviewed on a periodic basis and measures should
be taken to increase the capacity much in advance.
d) On receipt of the inward file, as a first step the bank should verify the amount
of inward files against the settlement received.

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e) If there is any discrepancy in the settlement amount, the same should be

immediately brought to the notice of NPCI helpdesk. The inward processing
should be taken up only after the discrepancy is resolved.
f) If the settlement amount tallies with the inward amount, then the bank should
proceed to process the inward files. There should be control points that will
allow file processing only after settlement reconciliation is confirmed. Under no
circumstances banks should release the credits to the customers without
receiving the settlement amount.
g) The bank should make provision in the system to provide the name and the
account number against each successful Aadhaar based transaction. This data
should be sent as a part of response file.
h) The destination bank should ensure that all the transactions are processed well
in time and response files are submitted before the cut-off time specified by
NPCI. This activity should be completed well in advance with a buffer to cater
to any eventuality during the processing.
i) Banks should have monitoring mechanism to ensure all the files are uploaded and
processed in NACH. The acknowledgement files should be consumed by the
destination bank to ensure that all the response files are uploaded.
j) In case any response file is rejected, the bank should check the reject reasons
and ensure corrective action and re-upload the files within the session time.
k) After the return session is closed the bank should tally the amount of returned
transactions with the settlement amount.
l) In case of any discrepancy in settlement report, the bank should first check
whether any rejected files are left out without remediation and re-upload. If
further clarification is required, the bank officials should get in touch with NPCI
for necessary details. This process has to be followed for all the presentation
and return sessions. No session should be left unreconciled with the settlement.

12. Return analysis and corrective action

Aadhaar based payments are routed to a bank only on the basis of Aadhaar numbers
mapped by the bank in NPCI mapper. As seeding, de-seeding and re-seeding can
be controlled by the banks through automated process there should not be any
returns in Aadhaar based payments. Banks should have strong work flow controls
to ensure nil returns. Additionally banks should take the following measures
a) Member banks should put a review mechanism in place to analyse the returns on
regular basis.
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 National Automated Clearing House (NACH) Procedural Guidelines

b) Return reason wise analysis should be carried out, the root cause for such returns
should be analysed and steps should be taken to fix the issue permanently.
c) The following are the returns, reason and solution for such returns.
Sl.
NO. Return Reason
1) Aadhaar seeded in the mapper
without updating in core banking.
2) Core banking is not able to identify
the account to which Aadhaar is
mapped.
Aadhaar number not mapped to
1
account
Solution
1) Verify and correctly seed the Aadhaar
number in core banking.
2) Check for bugs in CBS and put a
permanent fix.
2 Account closed/ transferred 1) Aadhaar number not – deseeded in
NPCI mapper
3 Customer insolvent/insane
Solution
1) Verify and de-seed all the Aadhaar
numbers pertaining to these type of
accounts.
4 Account under litigation 2) Implement process for automated de-
seeding immediately if the status of
account is changed and no more
credits can be given to such accounts.

1) Aadhaar number not – deseeded in

NPCI mapper

Solution
1) Verify and de-seed all the Aadhaar
numbers pertaining to these type of
accounts.
5 Account blocked/frozen
2) Implement process for automated de-
seeding immediately if the status of
account is changed and no more
credits can be given to such accounts.
3) The banks should have automated
process for re-seeding in case of
revocation of blockage.
4) Incorrect seeding

Solution
1) Verify and de-seed all the Aadhaar
numbers pertaining to these type of
6 Invalid account (NRE/PPF/CC/loan/FD)
accounts.
2) Implementation of controls to
automatically reject seeding to these
types of accounts.

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A/c in-active (no transaction for 3

7
months)
Dormant a/c (no transaction for 6
8
months)
A/c in zero balance /no transactions
9 have happened/first transaction should Banks should credit these accounts and
be cash or cheque should not return such DBT transactions.
Simple account, first transaction to be This is as per RBI guidelines. Banks may
10 refer to RBI circular number RBI/2013-
from base branch
14/69 dated July 01, 2013
Account reached maximum credit limit
11
set on account by bank
Amount exceeds limit set on account
12
by bank for credit per transaction

Some of the frequently faced issues in mapper file upload and transaction file
upload, their root causes and the solutions are given in Annexure VI

13. Dispute Management

a) In case of any disputes pertaining to the transactions processed through NACH,
the bank should raise disputes in the dispute management system provided by
NPCI. The disputes can be raised as per the timeline provided below.
b) The bank on whom dispute is raised should ensure that all the disputes are
attended to within the agreed TAT as provided below.
c) Banks should put in place monitoring mechanism to ensure that all the disputes
are attended to, within the timelines. If any dispute is not processed with in the
timeline, the system shall treat the same as deemed accepted and pass the
necessary settlement entries.
d) In case of repeated rejections, the bank can approach the panel for resolution
of disputes for redressal. The PRD will function as per the guidelines detailed in
RBI circular DPSS.CO.CHD.No:654/03.01.03/2010-2011 dated September 24,
2010.

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 National Automated Clearing House (NACH) Procedural Guidelines

14. Grievance Management System (GMS)

GMS system is a part of the DMS module of NACH. GMS is used to raise any non-financial
queries between banks and OMCs. As such the system has been extended only to DBTL
transactions. But, the system is capable of handling the same for other transactions as
well. All the banks which are live in DMS, will be live on GMS as well.
GMS helps the banks and OMCs to handle the non-financial queries/grievances of their
customers, which are raised to them. GMS is an in-built system in NACH application,
which can be used by the member banks of ACH, OMCs and any other designated entity
(ex: UIDAI). Grievances can be raised by bank to any other bank, bank to OMC, OMC to
bank, bank to UIDAI etc.,

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 National Automated Clearing House (NACH) Procedural Guidelines

Annexure I – On boarding of banks

Banks who wish to get on-boarded in NACH have to update the below given documents
and send across to NPCI. The said documents are available under the NACH forms in
the landing page of NACH. It is also available in the NPCI website under products &
servicesNational Automated Clearing HouseOn boarding documents.
a) Direct/in-direct bank letter
b) LOA/sponsor bank letter
c) MICR/IFSC declaration form
d) IIN application
e) Corporate user form
f) NARF form for login credentials
g) Escalation matrix
h) MMS user creation form
i) Bank master form

Indirect bank
sample documents.zip

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 National Automated Clearing House (NACH) Procedural Guidelines

Annexure II – Format for updating Aadhaar number with bank

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 National Automated Clearing House (NACH) Procedural Guidelines

Annexure III – Format for normal seeding of aadhaar number with bank
The Branch Manager
Bank …………………
Branch……………………….
……………………………….. …………………………………..

Date:
Dear Sir/Madam,
Bank Account No …………………………………. in my name
Linking of Aadhaar / UID Number with the account
I am maintaining a Bank Account number …………………………….. with your Branch (Branch
name…………………………………). I submit my Aadhaar number and voluntarily give my
consent to;
o Seed my Aadhaar/UID number issued by the UIDAI, Government of India in my name with
my aforesaid account.
o Map it at NPCI to enable me to receive Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) from Government of
India in my above account. I understand that if more than one Benefit transfer is due to me
, I will receive all Benefit Transfers in this account
o Use my Aadhaar details to authenticate me from UIDAI
o Use my mobile number mentioned below for sending SMS alerts to me
The particulars of the Aadhaar/ UID letter are as under:
Aadhaar/ UID number: ………………………………………………..
Name of the Aadhaar Holder as in Aadhaar card: ………………………………………
I have been given to understand that my information submitted to the bank herewith shall not
be used for any purpose other than mentioned above, or as per requirements of law.
Yours faithfully,

(Signature/ Thumb impression of the account holder)

Name: ………………………………….
Mobile No. …………………………
Email: ………………………………….
Enclosure: copy of the Aadhaar letter self-attested,
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………...
........................
Confirmation of insertion / linking of Aadhaar number with Bank Account:

The Account number ………………………………… of Shri

/ smt ………………………….. with -------------------(Bank) Branch
……………………… has been linked with Aadhaar/UID number ………………………………….
And mobile number _____________________

Date ……………. (Bank’s authorized official)

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 National Automated Clearing House (NACH) Procedural Guidelines

Annexure IV – Mapper file format

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 National Automated Clearing House (NACH) Procedural Guidelines

Annexure V – Mapper reject codes

Mapper Status
Description
Code
Mandate date in the record must be greater than that of the existing
0
UID
1 Duplicate UID record
2 Future mandate date is not accepted
3 Fresh insert must be Active only
5 Aadhaar Number is not mapped to your IIN or Scheme
7 Inserted For the First Time
8 Updated UID record
9 Invalid Aadhaar_No, Verhoeff Checksum validation Failed
10 Invalid Aadhaar_No, Aadhaar number is not equal to 12 digits
11 Invalid Aadhaar_No, Aadhaar number must not start with 1
12 Mandate Flag must be Y
13 Mapped to Some Other Bank and OD already exists
14 OD can be set Y only when mandate flag is Y
15 Aadhaar number cannot be inactivated when OD flag Y
16 Future OD date is not accepted
OD date in the record must be greater than that of the existing OD
17
date
OD date in the record must be greater than or equal to Mandate
18
date
19 Mandate should not be prior to 2012 January
21 Aadhaar number updated as banks merged
22 Mandate flag and Mandate date is mandatory for fresh insert
23 Mandate flag and Mandate date is mandatory

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 National Automated Clearing House (NACH) Procedural Guidelines

Annexure VI – Root cause of issues and solutions

Sl. Mapper
No. /Txn Type of Error Solution
Customer has already seeded the
Aadhaar with some other bank with the
mandate date later than what has been
Customer mandate less than given by the bank. Give a later date for
1 Mapper existing UID date the Aadhaar number to be seeded
Aadhaar number given does not match
2 Mapper Invalid Aadhaar number the verhoeff algorithm.
Use the vlookup option to know the
status in case of bulk. For one or two
Status of Aadhaar number not Aadhaar numbers, banks can use the
3 Mapper known MIS option or API
Destination bank IIN number need not
be given in the transaction file. If wrong
IIN is given, transaction will get
4 Txn Invalid IIN rejected.
Amount given for per transaction in the
header is less than the actual
Amount exceeds individual transaction value. Change the higher
5 Txn transaction amount cap amount in the header
Reference number should be unique for
an user for a day. This is applicable
6 Txn Duplicate reference number across files
Aadhaar number is not available in the
7 Txn Invalid Aadhaar number NPCI mapper database
The destination bank to which the
transaction is to be routed, is not live
8 Txn Participant not mapped for the product

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 National Automated Clearing House (NACH) Procedural Guidelines

Annexure VII – APB File format

Input

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 National Automated Clearing House (NACH) Procedural Guidelines

Inward

Return

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 National Automated Clearing House (NACH) Procedural Guidelines

Final Response

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