E-KYC
In order to reduce the risk of identity fraud, document forgery and to have paperless KYC
verification, e-KYC service UIDAI has launched its. Accordingly, it has been decided to accept
e-KYC service as a valid process for KYC verification under Prevention of Money Laundering
(Maintenance of Records) Rules, 2005.
The regulatory aspects have been introduced vide RBI/2013-14/242
BC.No.32/07.51.018/2013-14 September 10, 2013.
Recognising on-line Aadhaar authentication (electronic verification process) to be
accepted as an ‘Officially Valid Document’ under PML Rules
E-KYC service of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) may be accepted as a valid
process for KYC verification under the PML Rules. The information containing demographic
details and photographs made available from UIDAI as a result of e-KYC process (“which is in
an electronic form and accessible so as to be usable for a subsequent reference”) may be
treated as an ‘Officially Valid Document’ under PML Rules. While using e-KYC service of
UIDAI, the individual user has to authorize the UIDAI, by explicit consent, to release her or
his identity/address through biometric authentication to the bank branches/business
correspondents (BCs). The UIDAI then transfers the data of the individual comprising name,
age, gender, and photograph of the individual, electronically to the bank/BCs, which may be
accepted as valid process for KYC verification.
Further, e-Aadhaar downloaded from UIDAI website may be accepted as an officially valid
document subject to the following:
i. If the prospective customer knows only his/her Aadhaar number, the bank
may print the prospective customer’s e-Aadhaar letter in the bank directly
from the UIDAI portal; or adopt e-KYC procedure as mentioned in paragraph
(b) above.
ii. If the prospective customer carries a copy of the e-Aadhaar downloaded
elsewhere, the bank may print the prospective customer’s e-Aadhaar letter in
the bank directly from the UIDAI portal; or adopt e-KYC procedure as
mentioned in paragraph (b) above; or confirm identity and address of the
resident through simple authentication service of UIDAI.
Information containing demographic details / photographs made available from UIDAI e-KYC
process an electronic form and accessible to be usable for subsequent reference
Operational Procedure to be followed by banks for e-KYC exercise
The e-KYC service of the UIDAI is be leveraged by banks through a secured network. Any
bank willing to use the UIDAI e-KYC service is required to sign an agreement with the UIDAI.
The process flow to be followed is as follows:
1. Sign KYC User Agency (KUA) agreement with UIDAI to enable the bank to specifically
access e-KYC service.
2. Banks to deploy hardware and software for deployment of e-KYC service across various
delivery channels. These should be Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC)
Institute, Department of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India
certified biometric scanners at bank branches/ micro ATMs/ BC points as per UIDAI
standards. The current list of certified biometric scanners is given in the link below:
http://www.stqc.gov.in/sites/upload_files/stqc/files/UID_Auth_Certlist_250613.pdf
3. Develop a software application to enable use of e-KYC across various Customer Service
Points (CSP) (including bank branch, BCs etc.) as per UIDAI defined Application Programming
Interface (API) protocols. For this purpose banks will have to develop their own software
under the broad guidelines of UIDAI. Therefore, the software may differ from bank to bank.
4. Define a procedure for obtaining customer authorization to UIDAI for sharing e-KYC data
with the bank. This authorization can be in physical (by way of a written explicit consent
authorising UIDAI to share his/her Aadhaar data with the bank/BC for the purpose of
opening bank account) /electronic form as defined by UIDAI from time to time.
5. Sample process flow would be as follows:
a. Customer walks into CSP of a bank with his/her 12-digit Aadhaar number and
explicit consent and requests to open a bank account with Aadhaar based e-KYC.
b. Bank representative manning the CSP enters the number into bank’s e-KYC
application software.
c. The customer inputs his/her biometrics via a UIDAI compliant biometric reader (e.g.
fingerprints on a biometric reader).
d. The software application captures the Aadhaar number along with biometric data,
encrypts this data and sends it to UIDAI’s Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR).
e. The Aadhaar KYC service authenticates customer data. If the Aadhar number does
not match with the biometrics, UIDAI server responds with an error with various
reason codes depending on type of error (as defined by UIDAI).
f. If the Aadhaar number matches with the biometrics, UIDAI responds with digitally
signed and encrypted demographic information [Name, year/date of birth, Gender,
Address, Phone and email (if available)] and photograph. This information is captured
by bank’s e-KYC application and processed as needed.
g. Bank’s servers auto populate the demographic data and photograph in relevant
fields. It also records the full audit trail of e-KYC viz. source of information, digital
signatures, reference number, original request generation number, machine ID for
device used to generate the request, date and time stamp with full trail of message
routing, UIDAI encryption date and time stamp, bank’s decryption date and time
stamp, etc.
h. The photograph and demographics of the customer can be seen on the screen of
computer at bank branches or on a hand held device of BCs for reference.
i. The customer can open bank account subject to satisfying other account opening
requirements.
