Fintech cos seek access to Aadhaar after Cabinet's nod to amend Act: Report

Financial service providers are seeking access to Aadhaar-based verification after the recent Cabinet's approval to amend the existing laws, The Economic Times reported.

The Cabinet on December 17 approved amending the existing laws to provide legal backing for seeding of biometric ID Aadhaar with mobile numbers and bank accounts as an optional know-your-customer (KYC).

Fintech companies would write to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) requesting the inclusion of all regulated entities in the amendment that will be placed before Parliament, the newspaper reported.

"If the amendment is brought only for banks then the broader fintech industry will suffer and the problem will not be solved, hence the industry is set to reach out to the ministry requesting to bring all regulated entities within the amendment’s purview," a senior executive at a payments company told the paper.

The move would allow fintech companies to restore Aadhaar-based verification for their customers that were stalled following the Supreme Court ruling in the Aadhaar case in September. In the verdict, the apex court had struck down Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act, barring private companies from accessing the Aadhaar database for verification purposes.

Read — Offline Aadhaar-based verification may resume through QR code: Report

"We are still awaiting more clarity and also we understand that the final amendments will be done by Parliament but the intention is clear that the government is making an attempt to give us access to the citizen registry which is in itself a great news," a senior banker with a private sector bank told the paper.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has been working towards providing offline Aadhaar verification that would keep the consumer’s Aadhaar number secure and not reveal biometrics.

Read — Aadhaar verdict: What the Supreme Court judgment means for you

The UIDAI has already introduced machine-readable QR codes that hold relevant details such as names, addresses, and dates of birth of Aadhaar card holders. Using the QR code, telecom operators and banks can authenticate customers' details in the offline mode without revealing the 12-digit ID.