The insurance regulator plans to urge the government to allow the use of Aadhaar, a 12-digit identification number issued to each resident of India, to make the online know-your-customer (KYC) process simple and quick for insurers and policyholders.
According to report in Livemint, IRDAI chairman Subhash Chandra Khuntia said, "KYC is one area we are taking up with the government, to use Aadhaar as a kind of KYC for the insurance sector."
At present, all private companies, including insurers, are barred by the Supreme Court from seeking a person's Aadhaar number to complete the e-KYC process. The apex court's decision, issued last year, had hit banks and online payment platforms which were using the Aadhaar number as a single step, low-cost model for furnishing KYC details of their customers.