Aadhaar convenient for opening bank accounts, says SBI chief Rajnish Kumar

"Everybody will have to honour the Supreme Court's judgement, but I believe from services point of view it (Aadhaar) is a great facility," Kumar said

State Bank of India's chairman Rajnish Kumar Wednesday termed the government's flagship Aadhaar scheme a 'great facility' as it has made the process of opening of bank accounts very convenient.

This comes against the backdrop of the Supreme Court judgement Wednesday declaring Aadhaar scheme as constitutionally valid, even as it struck down some of its provisions.

"Everybody will have to honour the Supreme Court's judgement, but I believe from services point of view it (Aadhaar) is a great facility," Kumar told reporters.

A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra held that while Aadhaar would remain mandatory for filing of IT returns and allotment of Permanent Account Number (PAN), it would not be mandatory to link Aadhaar to bank accounts. Also, telecom service providers cannot seek its linking of Aadhaar for mobile connections.

"It is very convenient to open a bank account using an Aadhaar card. Today, on our digital platform if a customer wants to open a bank account with Aadhaar card, it can be opened within five minutes and the account also become operational immediately," Kumar said.

He said 80-85 per cent of bank accounts are linked with Aadhaar.

The bank is opening close to 27,000 digital accounts per day using it's Yono platform, and no paper work is required for these accounts.

Kumar said with Wednesday's judgement of the Supreme Court, Aadhaar card will not be mandatory and customers' can voluntarily opt for submitting Aadhaar card for opening accounts.

Now, Aadhaar would also not be mandatory for school admissions, as also for the examinations conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Examination, National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for medical entrance and the University Grants Commission.