Vodafone to start e-KYC from August 24 for instant SIM activation

New Delhi: Telecom operator Vodafone on August 22 said it will roll out e-KYC facility across 4,500 stores in India that will quickly activate SIMs of its customers with an Aadhaar number.

"Customers walking in for a new connection at our stores will walk out talking in just a few minutes. We had partnered with the Department of Telecom (DoT) to pilot the Aadhaar based e-KYC solution and tested it successfully in two circles," Vodafone India, Director (commercial), Sandeep Kataria said in a statement.

"Effective Wednesday, August 24, we are rolling it out across the country."

Mobile customers opting for electronic Know Your Customer (e-KYC) verification just need to know their Aadhaar number, which along with their fingerprint, will be good enough for confirmation for both new pre-paid and post-paid connections.

"The use of e-KYC will drastically cut down delays in activating new connections because of infrastructure challenges like power cuts, transporting volumes of paper, lack of photocopying and  photography facilities. It will also strengthen the verification process as there will be no room for any manual error," Kataria said.

Vodafone said it has developed a special application that will enable retailers to activate customers using e-KYC. Beginning September 2016, this paperless validation and activation facility will be rolled out at all 10,000 plus Vodafone-branded stores in urban and rural areas and also across all multi brand outlets, pan-India, in a phased manner.

"The advantage of the e-KYC solution is manifold it eliminates the need for paper-based documentation, which often takes time to collate and submit, ensures better confidentiality and privacy of customer information and radically reduces the waiting time for a new connection," Kataria said.