Consent must for changing subsidy receiving accounts: UIDAI

Bharti Airtel deposits preliminary penalty of Rs 2.5 crore with authority.

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According to the new process, banks will send request for mapping of a new account to NPCI only after taking explicit and informed consent of the users.

In the aftermath of the Bharti Airtel case, where LPG subsidy of over 31 lakh users was deposited in Airtel Payments Bank accounts instead of their original bank accounts, the Unique Identification Authority of India on Tuesday decided to revamp the method as per which direct benefit transfers are made to beneficiaries using accounts linked with Aadhaar. In a notification signed by UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey, banks have been asked to seek explicit consent of the beneficiaries before changing accounts to which subsidy will be remitted, along with intimating the consumer.

The UIDAI notification follows various complaints made by beneficiaries about their money being deposited into accounts that were last linked with Aadhaar, instead of the accounts in which they were originally receiving it. “There have been complaints that, when an Aadhaar holder visits the telecom service provider for verifying his mobile number with Aadhaar, Airtel is opening his payment bank account and putting that bank account on NPCI’s (National Payments Corporation of India) APB (Aadhaar Payments Bridge) mapper overriding the existing bank account mapping without the informed consent of the Aadhaar holder,” UIDAI said.

Allegedly, Bharti Airtel opened payment bank accounts for its mobile customers who were being re-verified using Aadhaar-based eKYC. The government has made it mandatory for all bank accounts to be linked with Aadhaar, and has also asked all telecom companies to re-verify their existing subscribers using Aadhaar.

Subsidies totaling over Rs 190 crore had flown into Airtel Payments Bank accounts, and Airtel, on Monday, wrote to NPCI, offering to deposit the money in the original accounts. Following an initial probe, UIDAI has suspended the eKYC licence key provided to Bharti Airtel and Airtel Payments Bank, disallowing them from conducting any Aadhaar-based eKYC processes. According to an official, apart from the offer to return the subsidy, Bharti Airtel has deposited a preliminary penalty of Rs 2.5 crore with UIDAI.

UIDAI also said that NPCI shall allow override requests or change of subsidy-receiving account, only if it is accompanied by the name of the beneficiary’s current bank and a confirmation that explicit consent has been obtained for it. Till this provision is implemented, “NPCI shall disable the override feature” in the Aadhaar-based bank account mapping process, the authority noted.

According to the new process, banks will send request for mapping of a new account or overriding an existing bank account to NPCI only after taking explicit and informed consent of the users, it said. The banks would also have to inform each account holder through SMS and email about the overriding request within 24 hours, providing name of the current bank on the mapper and the last four digits of the account number of the new bank along with the bank name.

In case, the consumer does not wish to link the DBT to the new account, the bank will have to provide the user with a method to reverse the mapping. In absence of an SMS or email, the physical signature on the paper consent form will have to taken by the bank prior to sending the request on NPCI mapper. The new rules mandate the banks to retain all these records for seven years. “Banks and NPCI shall make available the aforesaid records at the time of the audit as per the provisions of Aadhaar Authentication Regulations 2016,” the notification added.