Government extends deadline to link Aadhaar with PAN, other financial services till March 31

NEW DELHI: Those who have not linked their Aadhaar with the required financial accounts, documents can now breathe a slight sigh of relief. The government has extend the deadline for linking Aadhaar with financial investments/instruments to March 31, 2018, stated a finance ministry press release issued on Wednesday.


"After considering various representations received and inputs received from Banks, it has been decided to notify 31st March, 2018 or six months from the date of commencement of account based relationship by the client, whichever is later, as the date of submission of the Aadhaar number, and Permanent Account Number or Form 60 by the clients to the reporting entity. Necessary notification in this regard has been issued," stated the release.


Earlier, the government had set a deadline for providing Aadhaar to financial institutions as December 31, 2017, which meant that the individuals were required to link their Aadhaar to bank accounts, credit cards, insurance policies, equity and mutual fund investments, small savings schemes like Public Provident Fund, Kisan Vikas Patra, National Savings Certificate, Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana and so on. You are also required to submit your Aadhaar details if you have taken a loan from a bank, housing finance company, or non-banking finance company.

Government has asked banks, financial institutions, and intermediaries to ensure that all their customers are know-your-customer (KYC) compliant which, as per new rules, requires verification of their Aadhaar. An amendment has been made in the Prevention of Money Laundering Rules (Maintenance and Records), 2005 to this effect.
As per the earlier rules, one had to mandatorily submit his/her Aadhaar and PAN details to be KYC-compliant. If this was not done before December 31, 2017, his/her account will become inoperable till the time the required details are submitted. Now this deadline has benn pushed to March 31, 2018.