The Reserve Bank of India and head offices of most commercial banks have not instructed banks to demand photocopies of customer's id proof for exchange of currency notes rather the customers only need to present valid id proof and go ahead with the transaction.
RBI's guidelines only require customers to present and show valid proof, the photocopies are not required, the Times of India quoted an email from the apex bank.
"The bank only needs details and numbers on the requisition slip which the teller will match with entries in a document," a senior SBI official told the daily.
Still most bank branches including several of SBI are demanding photocopies of customer Ids, which is only adding to woes of people already facing unending queues amid cash crunch.
However, a few banks are not asking for identity proof of their own customers.
"While other banks might ask customers, coming to exchange money to submit photocopies, we are not doing so. For our bank customers we already have their KYC details, so there is no point in asking them for identification or proof again," said A Vidyasagar, COO, Lakshmi Vilas Bank.
"For non-bank customers we do get photocopies, but we ask them to sign their names with date, purpose and bank branch," he added.
The gazette notification withdrawing the old high denomination notes from circulation issued on November 8 had said that people can exchange notes at any bank by submitting a requisition slip and proof of identity.
PTI
