Aadhaar link deadline extended for investors: Sebi

Regulator Sebi extended the date for submission of Aadhaar details by those investing in capital markets till a final judgement by the Supreme Court on proposed mandatory linking of 12-digit unique ID for all financial dealings.

For securities market, the requirement of PAN (Permanent Account Number) would continue to be mandatory for completing the KYC (Know Your Client) process, Sebi said.

In a circular, the regulator said the last date for submitting Aadhaar details has been extended "till a date to be notified subsequent to pronouncement of final judgment" by the Supreme Court in the matter.

The direction by Sebi comes after the Finance Ministry amended the Prevention of Money Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, through a notification issued on March 31, extending the date for submitting Aadhaar by existing account holders to financial entities.

This followed an interim order, dated March 13, of the SC in the Aadhaar case, which had extended the last date for linking Aadhaar with existing bank and other financial accounts from March 31, 2018 till the final judgement of the case. 

Besides, the markets regulator has asked stock exchanges and depositories to bring the provisions of this circular to the notice of the stock brokers and depository participants, and also disseminate the same on their websites.

Also, it asked them to monitor the compliance of this circular through half-yearly internal audits and inspections and communicate to Sebi the status of the implementation of the directives.

In case of mutual funds, Sebi said the compliance of this circular will be monitored by the boards of Asset Management Companies (AMCs) and the trustees and in case of other intermediaries by their board of directors.