Airtel Payments Bank Row: Government Directs NPCI To Change Process Of Aadhaar Mapping For Subsidy Transfer
The Centre has directed all banks and the National Payments Corporation of India to change the process used for mapping Aadhaar-linked bank accounts for receiving government subsidies, reports The Economic Times. Apart from changing how the mapping system works, the government is also freezing the current system wherein the last mapped account overrides previously linked accounts.
This change comes in after Airtel Payments Bank used its e-KYC platform to create new bank accounts for users of its telecom service and redirect subsidies there.
The Unique Identification Authority of India in its statement said:
NPCI shall allow override request pertaining to an Aadhaar holder only if it is accompanied by the name of his current bank on the APB (Aadhaar Payment Bridge) mapper and confirmation from the requesting bank that it has obtained the requisite consent of the Aadhaar holder for switching to the requesting bank on the mapper. Banks shall send request for mapping of a new account or overriding an existing bank account to NPCI only after taking explicit informed consent of their customers.
The UIDAI has asked for the the Aadhaar Payment Bridge overriding to be disabled immediately till the newer system comes in to place. It has also said that any violation of the new directives would be construed as violations of Sections 37, 40, 41, 42, and 43 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016.
Rs 167 crore in cooking gas subsidies of 4.7 million customers was deposited in accounts of Airtel Payments Bank over the last two months. The UIDAI in turn has temporarily barred Airtel from using Aadhaar to create new accounts along with a fine of Rs 2.5 crore. Airtel has promised to return Rs 190 crore to the originally-linked accounts within 24 hours.