SBI will fund Aadhaar linkage costs, technology upkeep via penalty
According to reports, State Bank of India (SBI) will use the sum accrued from the penalty received via bank accounts that have failed to maintain a minimum balance, to cover the Aadhaar linkage costs. SBI managing director Rajnish Kumar said that the firm expects to collect around Rs. 2,000 crore as penalty in the current fiscal from savings account holders. Here's more.
The costs incurred by SBI
SBI managing director Rajnish Kumar said, "Maintaining savings bank accounts and complying with KYC requirement is not an easy task. Now the government has said that you have to link Aadhaar to each and every account by December 31. So I have to look at (SBI's) 40 crore (savings bank) accounts and it is a very costly affair." Therefore, SBI has chosen this route.
Fulfilling Aadhaar linkage norms
According to the government's norm, all bank account holders are expected to submit Aadhaar card numbers to banks. If they fail to do so by December 31 of this year, their accounts will become void. Kumar said that this is a cumbersome process, as SBI needs to contact the account holders, get the process done and make necessary changes in the IT-backend.
Heavy expenditure on technology
SBI also makes heavy investments in technology that needs to take care of savings bank accounts' transactions. The penalty will help in recovering its outgo on ATMs. Kumar said that SBI has to spend around Rs. 2,000 crore annually on business correspondents channel and ATMs. As per an RTI query, SBI gathered Rs. 235 crore as penalty in June from 60 million savings bank accounts.
Aadhaar Linking through SMS, SBI online portal
Meanwhile, if you are an SBI customer here's how you can link your Aadhaar details to your account. If your mobile number is registered with SBI, send an SMS to 567676 writing "UID(space)Aadhaar number(space)Account number." Once okayed, you'll receive a confirmation message. If you're an Internet banking user, go to "www.onlinesbi.com" and access the option "Link your Aadhaar number" under "My Accounts."
Aadhaar Linking through ATM, SBI branch
In an ATM, after swiping your card and entering your PIN, go to "Service - Registrations." Then select Aadhaar Registration, choose your account type i.e. savings or checking and then enter your Aadhaar number. If you want to get it linked via SBI branch, visit the branch with a copy of your Aadhaar number and submit Letter of Request. After verification, it'll be processed.
