Common KYC for various financial transactions soon: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said work is on for implementing common KYC which can be used for undertaking various financial transactions across institutions.

"There is a central repository which takes care of central KYC. We are also now working in such a way that once you have given your KYC, it can be applicable at various institutions at various times for various requirements that you may have. And you may not have to do it each time even if the businesses are slightly different that you're engaged in," she said.

Speaking at the Ficci Leads 2022 conference here, Sitharaman said the government and regulators are working to bring it all together, which will bring about ease of doing business.

The issue of a common know your customer (KYC) process for banking, insurance and capital markets was discussed at a meeting of financial sector regulators and the finance minister last week.

A common KYC would reduce paper work for the common man for various services like opening bank account, making new investment or opening demat account, among others.

Sitharaman said the value of UPI transactions has crossed Rs 10.62 lakh crore in July through 6.28 billion transactions.

In the last fiscal ended March 2022, UPI processed more than 46 billion transactions amounting to over Rs 84.17 lakh crore.

"So UPI's own target is... A billion transactions a day in next five years. So it's readying itself for that kind of an escalation in transaction," she said.

Sitharaman further said the future of financing in India will be driven more and more by digitisation of banking and other related services.