The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has revised its “Know Your Customer”(KYC) guidelines. It said the KYC norms have been revised following the government’s decision to update the ‘Prevention of Money Laundering’ (PML) rules in June last year.
In a circular issued in Mumbai late last night, the RBI made linking of national biometric ID Aadhaar to bank accounts mandatory. However, it said this will be subject to the final decision of the Supreme Court on making of Aadhaar mandatory.
Till now, an Officially Valid Document (OVD) for address proof together with Permanent Account Number (PAN) issued by the Income Tax department and a recent passport size photograph were the key KYC documents. But in the amended Customer Due Diligence (CDD) procedure, the Aadhaar number, the PAN or Form No. 60 need to be obtained from an individual who is eligible for applying for the biometric ID.
The RBI made an exception in case of residents of Jammu and Kashmir, Assam or Meghalaya. In their cases, a certified copy of an OVD and one recent photograph will be sufficient in case they do not submit Aadhaar or proof of application of enrolment for Aadhaar.