Courier firms insist on Aadhaar for deliveries

Hyderabad: Now it’s the turn of courier firms to insist on Aadhaar and KYC of the receiver while delivering products.

The Central Board of Excise and Customs, requires Know Your Customer (KYC) only for imported gifts and samples from abroad valued up to '50,000 through courier. Receivers have been able to submit passport, driving licence, or voter ID details as proof of identity and address.

But now it seems courier firms too have been bitten by the Aadhaar bug and have started insisting that even ordinary items such as rakhis or books sent within the country will only be sent and delivered if the Aadhaar number is provided.

“I ordered an ICICI bank cheque book online last week. They sent it through a private courier within five days. When the delivery boy came to my home at around 11 am, I was in my office. My mother was in the house but the delivery boy refused to hand over the cheque book to her unless my Aadhaar copy was provided.” said K.V Sreedhar, a resident of Tarnaka.

“Though a copy of my voter ID was available at home, he insisted on Aadhaar only and left without delivering the cheque book. When I enquired with the courier firm why they were insisting only on Aadhaar, they had no proper answer, merely saying they have instructions from the company’s higher officials,” added Sreedhar.

At a time when there are serious concerns about the security and privacy of Aadhaar data, people are naturally reluctant to give their Aadhaar details to an entity like a courier firm.

“This seems like an attempt to collect Aadhaar data of people and sell the data to firms which need it for their business promotional activities. These days online shopping has increased and courier firms are taking undue advantage of this to gather Aadhaar data of people without taking into account whether the parcels are sent within the country or from abroad,” said D. Yugandhar, a resident of Begumpet.

“How can they justify collecting Aadhaar details for delivering rakhis or books?” Mr Yugandhar questions. Mr Yugandhar was forced to give his Aadhaar details in order to receive a parcel of books sent by his friend from Bengaluru. The UIDAI, the nodal authority for Aadhaar, has not mandated that Aadhaar details be given to courier delivery boys. 

“There is no need to submit Aadhaar details to anyone. For couriers from abroad, other documents like voter IDs, driving licence and so on can be submitted. Even if Aadhaar copy is submitted, it should be duly signed mentioning the purpose, else there is a chance of misuse,” said M.V.S. Rami Reddy, regional director, UIDAI.