Aadhaar not mandatory for buying insurance: IRDAI

IRDAI has asked insurers to refrain from seeking Aadhaar from the proposer or policy holders. In a circular, IRDAI said along with Aadhaar, insurers should not mandatorily seek PAN/Form 60 as part of Know Your Customer (KYC) norms. However, the insurers may accept Aadhaar card as one of the identity or address proof documents for KYC purpose subjected to certain conditions. They include voluntary offer of Aadhaar card, including physical copy of e-Aadhaar, masked Aadhar and offline Aadhaar, by customer as one of the documents for KYC purpose. The insurers will under no circumstances do the authentication either using e-KYC facility or authentication facility of UIDAI. They should also ensure that the first eight digits of the Aadhaar number are properly masked, according to the circular. “At no point in time, more than last four digits of the Aadhaar number of any individual should be stored by the insurers in physical or digital form,’’ the Authority said. The IRDAI has also withdrawn its own circular issued in August 2017 on Aadhaar based e-KYC. It may be recalled the Supreme Court in September 2018 ruled against mandatory use of Aadhaar in matter pertaining to the prevention of money laundering, among others.