Banks seem to be tossing regulator RBI’s guidelines out the window, with several of them insisting on linking Aadhaar numbers to new savings accounts, a BusinessLine survey has found.
According to the RBI, Aadhaar is only one of the many identification documents that can be furnished to open accounts, along with passport, PAN, driving licence and Voter ID.
Though banks officially deny that Aadhaar has been made mandatory, executives at several Mumbai branches that
Branches of leading private banks, including ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank, were turning down customers without Aadhaar.
When contacted, an ICICI Bank spokesperson said, “Aadhaar number/card is not mandatory to open a savings account with us. One can submit any of the eligible identity and address proof documents to open an account.”
A customer at HDFC Bank was denied service as he did not possess an UID (unique identification) number. Another, who had a passport and PAN for proof of address and identification respectively, was also not allowed to open an account.
A spokesperson for HDFC Bank said, “Aadhaar seeding is not mandatory for opening a bank account. You will appreciate that we encourage customers who have an Aadhaar card to link it with their bank accounts.”
A search on social media sites also led to several posts by disgruntled customers on the same issue.
Kotak Bank and SBI have said that while Aadhaar was not compulsory for new customers, existing users were required to link it to their accounts. An email sent to RBI did not elicit any response.