August 19, 2016
Just a few months before the new crop of payment banks start their operations, their chiefs are a worried lot. The banking regulator’s ask in terms of meeting the Know Your Customer (KYC) norms has put them at par with traditional banks, and firms are concerned that the preference for “paper-based” KYC will be a cost-intensive and time-consuming exercise — and therefore a major impediment to the growth of the new age banks.
Paytm payment bank’s CEO Shinjini Kumar told ET that the industry is very “aggrieved” with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) asking all entities to adhere to the centralised KYC system instead of just relying on the Aadhaar-based eKYC for payment banks. “We are grappling with that problem right now and we are talking to different people. We are hoping that there will be some understanding. Anyway our accounts are capped at Rs 1,00,000. There should be no reason why eKYC should not be the only way. It is also digital and more authentic.