Banks ask for Aadhaar number for subsidy transfer

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Banks across India have started linking accounts with Aadhaar number for cash transfer of LPG and other subsidies. Using various modes of communication, the Banks have started informing their customers about linking of Aadhaar number with the account number to facilitate subsidy transfer.

Following direction from Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Banks have been asking their customers to get various subsidies on LPG, MNREGA and other schemes, accounts needs to be linked with Aadhaar numbers.

The Central Government is quite ambitious about meeting its targets set for the UID project. Recently, P Chidambaram had instructed banks to expedite the rollout of direct cash subsidy scheme for cooking gas (LPG) consumers throughout the country.

As a pilot project, the government has decided to give cash subsidy to LPG consumers under its ambitious Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme soon, and will cover 20 districts by May 15, says a PTI report.

Currently, there are nearly crore LPG consumers in the country and the government will provide nine subsidised cylinders per household per year. Through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme, the government is expecting to cut down on all ghost LPG connections and diversion of cylinders.