Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which issues &#39;Aadhaar&#39; cards, has added the feature in a bid to push for electronic-driven economy.u00a0 Explaining the facility, UIDAI chief Nandan Nilekani said a person can walk into a bank branch, tell his/her 12- digit individual identification number (Aadhaar) and walk out with a bank account. The bank will connect with the UIDAI using an authorised service agent, generally a payment gateway, which in turn connects up with the UIDAI database, he said. The only detail a customer has to give at the bank branch will be his/her fingerprint impression, Nilekani said. The facility is safer than the current practice of submitting photocopies of documents, Nilekani said, adding all the work happens electronically at the back-end. &quot;Fundamentally, all the infrastructure is falling into place now for creating a much more electronic, much more digital cash kind of an economy,&quot; he said, adding it has long- term ramifications, including making the economy cashless. The authority, set up four years ago with the Infosys co-founder as its head, has rolled out 460 million Aadhaar numbers till now and is targeting to take this to 600 million (half of the country&#39;s population) by early next year. Using the numbers as the base, it has helped rolling out a host of services, including direct subsidy transfer and person to person fund transfer using mobile phones. The UIDAI chief said the e-KYC facility launched today has huge &quot;strategic implications&quot;. Private sector Axis Bank became the first lender to offer the e-KYC (know your customer) account opening facility. One Nitin Shah of neighbouring Thane district became the first person to open his bank account using Aadhaar. &quot;Anybody can walk into a branch, give his finger prints and walk out with a bank account,&quot; Axis Bank Managing Director and Chief Executive Shikha Sharma said at the launch. Nilekani said the bank will roll out this facility across all its bank branches in ten days&#39; time. However, he parried queries on expansion of the facility at other banks. The idea is to expand the e-KYC facility from here on, he said, adding it is possible for getting an insurance cover and applying for mutual funds using this feature.

A new feature added to 'Aadhaar' will now enable the card-holder to open a bank account without any paperwork.

Now, 'Aadhaar' to facilitate paper-less bank account opening

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Now, 'Aadhaar' to facilitate paper-less bank account opening

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