Govt eases rule for change of address in KYC dealings

NEW DELHI: In a move that will iron out the difficulties in obtaining services like a new bank account for migrant workers, the government has allowed the use of current address in place of the one used for completing the KYC of the individual for such facilities.

The finance ministry on Wednesday made an amendment to the Prevention of Money Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, 2005, allowing an individual to provide a current address, different from the address as per the identity information available in the Central Identities Data Repository, on a self-declaration basis to the reporting entity.

“This demand has been there from various sectors,” the finance ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. It will help migrant workers who have the address of their native place in Aadhaar but want a bank account with their current address where they are living for work, the statement said.


For instance, people may have residential address in their Aadhaar and give work add- ress as current address. The amendment will also help migrant workers obtain mobile connections more easily.

“There are many cases where people may have their address in Aadhaar and want to give a more functional address for KYC,” the statement said. In May, the Reserve Bank of India allowed banks to use Aadhaar for KYC with the customer’s consent.

The RBI has laid down Know Your Customer (KYC) norms to be followed by banks and other entities regulated by it for different customer services.