The Ministry of Finance has allowed 23 private insurance companies and state-owned Life Insurance Company to carry out Aadhaar-based authentication under Section 11A of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA). This means that these 24 companies can ask their clients for their Aadhaar details, something they could not do earlier. However, the clients retain their choice to furnish another form of identification instead of Aadhaar under Section 11A. Live Law first tweeted about it. What is Section 11A of the PMLA? The government had implemented Section 11A of the PMLA on July 25, 2019, through which every reporting entity (that is, a bank, a financial institution, intermediary or a person carrying on a designated business or profession) had to verify the identity of its clients using Aadhaar, a passport or any other officially valid document. An entity could use Aadhaar authentication only if it was notified by the central government. With the Ministry of Finance’s notification, these 24 companies can ask their clients for their Aadhaar details. As per Section 11A(3), the mode of identification is the client’s choice and “no client or beneficial owner shall be denied services for not having an Aadhaar number”. How was the decision taken? The decision was taken in consultation with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) as per the notification. As per the procedure for processing applications under Section 11A, set forth in a circular by the Department of Revenue on…
