Banks help themselves to some UID data

Don’t be surprised if you are asked to respond to any of these questions while applying for your Unique Identification Number (UID) popularly known as the Aadhar number through a bank. Having been roped in to help enroll citizens for the UID scheme,many public sector banks are also using the opportunity to collect additional personal information from applicants,purportedly for their use later.

Last week,a residents’ association in Antop Hill objected to a public sector bank setting up a booth in their vicinity. The association said the bank was collecting personal information and that was not bothered about information needed by the state government. “The banks need to be asked to collect information which the state government is seeking,because if the state government decides to introduce benefit programmes for the people they might not have the comprehensive list of beneficiaries,¿ said Rahul Daga,member of Wadala-based residents association,Friends of Wadala East. The public sector banks are partners with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for enrolling citizens for the UID scheme.

While the banks are asking citizens to fill a KYR form which will be needed to generate a UID card,another form (KYR+) is needed to collate personal information of their current or future customers. “Our bank has not entered into any MoU with any state government for collecting details for the state through the KYR+ form,which is essentially meant for the internal requirement of updating information about customers,” said G Srinivasan,General Manager of Indian Bank.

However,the banks are not collecting the information required by the state for any future linkage with the UID scheme. For instance,the state wants people to fill up a form on questions regarding gas connections,Mahatma Gandhi Rozgar Yojana,health insurance,BPL schemes,trade license numbers etc.

“Some sort of agreement should be there wherein people who are enrolling themselves for UID through these banks should also be asked to give details which the state will require later to identify beneficiaries of state-introduced schemes,” said Dr Santosh Bhogale,Under-Secretary (IT).

Currently,13 agencies have been given the contract by the state government to enroll citizens for the UID scheme. According to the data provided by the state government’s IT department,14 lakh people across the state have been enrolled across 600 centres. Moreover,most public sector banks and other government agencies are also enrolling people.

According to SBI’s Deputy General Manager (Rural banking-IT &PSC) L P Rai, “The additional data required to be collected by the banks are for their own use. This is the data required for opening a bank account.” SBI has recently started enrolling its customers for the UID scheme in Mumbai,Dhule,Nandurbar,Latur,Nanded,Parbhani and Hingoli. While the enrolling agencies are paid up to Rs 40 for a successful enrollment,banks are charging about Rs 50 for the same,said a UIDAI official.

UIDAI’s Mumbai Deputy Director General Dr Ajay Bhushan Pande said they have no objection to banks collecting some extra data along with the UID enrollments. “We are also not concerned about whether the banks are collecting information required by the state. The state can approach the citizens again at a later stage”.