Aadhaar card can check fraud: SEBI

New Delhi: The petitioners opposed any dilution of the earlier order and said the right to privacy could not be waived even for the sake of the poor or illiterate people.

It was argued that the Aadhaar card didn’t have any statutory or administrative backing and modifying the order would amount to sacrificing the nation’s security as the biometric data could be accessed by anyone.

It was submitted on behalf of the Reserve Bank of India that the interim order should not prevent banks and other financial institutions from accepting Aadhaar cards from those who voluntarily submit the same for the purpose of proving their identity either in the absence of any other officially valid document or otherwise.

Sebi said: “The Aadhaar card can act as a single document for both proof of identity and address for an individual. It offers easy and simplified mode of completion of Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements while on-boarding a client by any registered intermediary in terms of Prevention of Money Laundering norms.

The Sebi said it can act as a tool to monitor transactions by individuals across financial markets and thus help in fraud detection.