Finance Ministry allows 29 insurance, 9 securities entities to use Aadhaar Authentication Services

The Ministry of Finance has allowed 29 insurance and 9 securities entities, including the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Securities Depository Limited, to use Aadhaar Authentication Services under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PML Act).

Department of Revenue has permitted them to undertake Aadhaar Authentication services of UIDAI subject to their complying with standard security and privacy measures as per Aadhaar Act and to the satisfaction of their respective regulatory authorities, namely the Insurance Regulatory Authority of India (IRDA) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) respectively.

Finance Secretary Dr Ajay Bhushan Pandey said the decision will help these entities to perform in real-time, do e-KYC and would also reduce their cost of the transaction. He said, this will also be beneficial to the customers or the investors, especially the small and retail investors, as they need not submit physical papers or documents for KYC.

Entities functional under IRDAI that have been allowed to use the Aadhaar Authentication services include

1) SBI Life Insurance Company Limited

2) Royal Sundaram General Insurance Company Limited

3) SBI General Insurance Company Limited

4) Future Generali India Life Insurance Company Limited

5) Reliance Nippon Life Insurance Company Limited

6) Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company Limited

7) Exide Life Insurance Company Limited

8) HDFC Life Insurance Company Limited

9) Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company Limited

10)ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited

11) India First Life Insurance Company Limited

12) Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance Company Limited

13) Pramerica Life Insurance Limited

14) Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Company Limited

15) Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company Limited

16) Max Life Insurance Company Limited

17) PNB Metlife India Insurance Company Limited

18) Aegon Life Insurance Company Limited

19) Shriram Life Insurance Company Limited

20) Kotak Mahindra General Insurance Company Limited

21) Future General India Insurance Company Limited

22) Acko General Insurance Limited

23) IDBI Federal Life Insurance Company Limited

24) Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance Company Limited

25) Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company Limited

26) HDFC Ergo General Insurance Company Limited

27) Apollo Munich Health Insurance Company Limited

28) Manipal Cigna Health Insurance Company Limited

29) Religare Health Insurance Company Limited

Entities functional under SEBI who are allowed to use the Aadhaar Authentication services include

1) Bombay Stock Exchange Limited

2) National Securities Depository Limited

3) NSE Data and Analytics Limited

4) Central Depository Services (India) Limited

5) CDSL Ventures Limited

6) NSDL Database Management Limited

7) CAMS Investor Services Private Limited

8) Computer Age Management Services Private Limited

9) Link Intime India Pvt. Ltd.

Revenue Department, however, said that it is a voluntary measure and use of Aadhaar authentication service is voluntary. It said, if some investor gives PAN, then they need not go for Aadhaar authentication.