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At a time when customers are rushing to link all their bank accounts with Aadhaar, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has clarified that it never issued any such directions, it was the decision of the Indian government.
The apex bank further clarified that in applicable cases, linkage of Aadhaar number to bank account is mandatory under the Prevention of Money-laundering (Maintenance of Records) Second Amendment Rules, 2017.
Clarifying its position, RBI in a statement on Saturday said: "...in applicable cases, linkage of Aadhaar number to bank account is mandatory under the Prevention of Money-laundering (Maintenance of Records) Second Amendment Rules, 2017 published in the Official Gazette on 1 June, 2017. These Rules have statutory force and, as such, banks have to implement them without awaiting further instructions."
This linking of Aadhaar to bank accounts is a process over and above the Know Your Customer (KYC) norms already followed by the banks.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in August had said that 524 million Aadhaar numbers had been linked to 736.2 million bank accounts in India.
Banks accounts in India are already linked to the tax-related Permanent Account Number (PAN), which is mandatory.
The Finance Minister had outlined a "one billion-one billion-one billion vision" for the country.
The RTI query further asked whether RBI had Supreme Court's permission to mandatorily link Aadhaar with bank accounts. In its reply RBI said it had not filed any such petition before the Supreme Court.
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