Link all bank accounts of customers with Aadhaar by March 2021, FM Sitharaman asks lenders

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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday asked banks to ensure that all accounts are linked with Aadhaar numbers of respective customers by March 31, 2021.

She said the financial inclusion story is not over and banks still have inclusion to carry forward. There are many accounts which are not linked with Aadhaar.

“… by March 31, 2021, every account should have a PAN where needed and where applicable, and Aadhaar in every one of your accounts,” Sitharaman said while addressing the 73rd annual general meeting of the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).

She said banks should discourage non-digital payments and should bank on promotion of digital payments techniques and also adopt many of the UPI driven payments.

“UPI should be a common parlance word in all our banks,” the finance minister said, adding that banks should promote RuPay cards.

“Whoever needs the card, RuPay will be the only card you will promote,” she said.

Sitharaman also said that the country is thirsting for large banks.