UIDAI allows Bharti Airtel to resume Aadhaar-based eKYC

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Thursday allowed Bharti Airtel to do Aadhaar-based eKYC verification for telecom subscribers till Jan 10, with riders.

Aadhaar-issuing body UIDAI maintains eKYC licence 'suspension' order on Airtel Payments Bank, said a PTI report quoting sources. 

Bharti Airtel, the India's largest telecom company with 282 million subscribers, reportedly said that UIDAI has allowed the company to resume Aadhaar-based E-KYC.

Airtel got the temporary reprieve with conditions after Rs 138 crore Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) was repaid into 55.63 lakh original accounts of its customers, sources privy to the development told PTI.

The UIDAI's second interim order has reportedly been passed keeping in view convenience of customers and also the looming March 31 deadline given by the Supreme Court for mobile SIM re-verification.

The authority, however, will take a view on the issue after it receives a report from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Telecom Department on January 10.

As per the conditions imposed on Airtel, the company would have sent messages to its customers within 24 hours that their DBT accounts have been reverted to the originally designated bank account.

The Telecom firm will also inform its customers in the next 24 hours that the direct benefit transfers received in their Airtel payment bank accounts have been duly reversed to original bank accounts.

Earlier on Sunday, UIDAI had suspended Bharti Airtel and Airtel Payments Bank’s e-KYC license for alleged misuse of the facility.
 
Airtel in a BSE filing had recently stated, “This is to inform you that on December 16, 2017, Bharti Airtel Limited (Airtel) and Airtel Payments Bank Limited (APBL) (a subsidiary of Airtel), have been served with an Interim Order dated December 15, 2017 by the Unique Identification Authority of India, Government of India ('UIDAI') directing suspension of the e-KYC license key of Airtel / APBL with immediate effect. The company is engaging with UIDAI to resolve this at the earliest.”
 
Subscribers of Airtel had alleged that the company had opened bank accounts in Airtel Payments Bank when they used the ‘Aadhaar linked e-KYC services’. This was done without customers' consent.
 
The "Aadhaar linked e-KYC" service of UIDAI provides an instant, electronic, non-repudiable proof of identity and proof of address along with date of birth and gender, resident`s mobile number and email address to the service provider.
 
Earlier this month, Airtel had responded to UIDAI probing its Aadhaar linked e-KYC services stating “We confirm that the company is dealing with the notices received from the authority and is in the process of providing the response thereto."

The company said, "We wish to clarify that the re-verification for mobile phones and the opening of Airtel Payment Bank Accounts are separate transactions and not linked.” 

Meanwhile, shares of Bharti Airtel had also tumbled on Monday after the UIDAI ordered a temporary suspension of the telecom giant’s Aadhaar linked e-KYC services.

(With Agency Inputs)