Here are 10 things to know about Airtel's LPG subsidy mess:
1. UIDAI, in a Gazette notification, has asked the banks to intimate the beneficiary about the change in bank account within 24 hours through SMS and email as well as provide an option to the person to reverse the change.
2. Airtel has deposited an interim penalty of Rs. 2.5 crore with UIDAI, sources told news agency Press Trust of India on Tuesday.
3. The notification follows complaints of government grants, particularly LPG subsidy, being credited into the last account authenticated using national biometric ID, Aadhaar. The situation was worse in case of Bharti Airtel, which allegedly opened unsolicited payment bank accounts of its unsuspecting mobile customers who had used Aadhaar to verify their SIMs.
4. While subsidies totalling over Rs 190 crore had flown 'unsolicited' into the accounts opened by Airtel Payments Bank, the accounts had also got changed for beneficiaries who had multiple bank accounts as the last account authenticated became the one meant for receiving the subsidy.
5. The UIDAI, in the notification, said the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) shall allow override requests or change of subsidy-receiving account, only if it is accompanied by the name of the beneficiary's current bank and a confirmation that explicit consent has been obtained for the switchover. Till this provision is implemented, "NPCI shall disable the override feature" in the Aadhaar-based bank account mapping process, the notification said.
6. As per the new process, banks will send request for mapping of a new account or overriding an existing bank account to NPCI only after taking explicit and informed consent of their customers, it said. Further, the banks would also have to inform each account holder through SMS and email about the overriding request within 24 hours, providing name of the current bank on the mapper and the last four digits of the account number of the new bank along with the bank name.
7. In the absence of an SMS or email (for those consumers who do not have e-mail or mobile connection), the physical signature on the paper consent form will have to be taken by the bank prior to sending the request on NPCI mapper.
8. The notification detailed the reason for the revamp of the process and went on to list the Bharti Airtel issue as well as general instances of last bank account authenticated becoming the subsidy receiving account. "As a result, thesubsidy from the government under the various schemes are getting credited in the new/latest bank account on Aadhaar Payment Bridge (APB) mapper without the knowledge and informed consent of the beneficiary," the notification said.
9. The UIDAI, in a stern move late last week, temporarily barred Bharti Airtel from conducting Aadhaar-based SIM verification of mobile customers using eKYC process and e-KYC of payments bank clients after it was alleged that the company misused the process to open bank accounts of its mobile customers without their informed consent.
10. Mounting pressure on Airtel, the state-run oil companies had begun writing to billionaire Sunil Mittal-led firm asking it to transfer back the LPG subsidy that got credited to its payment bank accounts. Taking a lead, Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd wrote to Airtel asking it to revert the subsidy to the customers' earlier bank account or transfer the same to the oil companies. (With PTI Inputs)
