Aadhaar card verification now mandatory for mobile connections, both old and new

Walking on the lines of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's statement that Aadhar may become the single identity card in future, the department of telecommunications (DoT) has moved to make Aadhaar-based e-KYC (know your customer) mandatory for mobile phone connections.

"All licensees shall re-verify all existing mobile subscribers (prepaid and postpaid) through an Aadhaar-based eKYC process," said a telecom department notification.

Last month, the Supreme Court had observed, "an effective process has been evolved to ensure the identity verification" for new users. It added that "in the near future, and more particularly within one year from today, a similar verification will be completed, in the case of existing subscribers."

The DoT has asked the service providers to complete the exercise by early next year. Aadhaar-based e-KYC would also be mandatory for customers procuring new SIM cards.

The entire process is expected to affect over 1.1 billion telecom subscribers who will soon have to go through a fresh verification exercise. According to telecom industry estimates, the entire verification process could cost at least Rs 1,000 crore.

Last week, the government had proposed to make Aadhaar card mandatory for filing income tax return and also applying for permanent account number (PAN). The new proposal was made through an amendment to the Finance Bill.