SBI seeks clarification from RBI as 'YONO' suspended after Aadhaar verdict

As SBI's one-stop solution platform 'YONO' for accessing all the banking services digitally remained suspended following the Supreme Court's order on Aadhaar seeding, the bank has sought clarity from the RBI for an alternative solution, a top official said.

The Supreme Court order on September 26 said it was not mandatory to link the 12-digit unique identification number Aadhaar for opening or availing banking services, among others.

Since then the State Bank of India (SBI) has disabled the facility of opening paperless bank account through 'You Only Need One' (YONO) temporarily, customers are required to visit a branch to open an account.

"As of now the e-KYC is not being permitted, so we want some clarification from the RBI. We have discussed this with the regulator. So after the clarification comes, then we can start (doing e-KYC through Aadhaar)," the official told PTI.

The digital platform 'YONO', launched in November 2017, offers all financial services and lifestyle products and services of the bank including opening an account without even visiting a bank branch.

Among others, customers can also transfer funds, avail of pre-approved personal loan sans any paperwork and get overdraft facility against fixed deposits.

SBI has set an ambitious customer base to 250 million through YONO platform in the next two years.

By August, there were more than 2.5 million users registered under YONO platform of the bank.

Before the SC order on Aadhaar, the unique identification number was made mandatory for a host of services including banking and telephony and became a one-point solution to complete the know your customer (KYC) requirement at an affordable cost.