Mumbai: Individuals will now be able to transact multiple financial products like bank deposits, insurance policies, equity shares and debentures with a single KYC number as CERSAI, a government of India undertaking along with DotEx, a subsidiary of NSE announced the launch of India’s first online Central Know Your Customers (CKYC) Record Registry.
In CKYC, investors are required to submit their KYC details/documents only once with any financial institution. Thereafter, they are assigned a unique central KYC number, which can be used across all financial products including bank accounts, mutual fund investments, insurance policies, new pension system investments, demat accounts and broking accounts.
Central Registry of Securitisation Asset Reconstruction and Security Interest of India (CERSAI), is entrusted with the task of maintaining CKYC Registry, while DotEx is the service provider for CKYC handling operations as well as the help-desk on behalf of CERSAI.
The new system is expected to bring down the time and cost for both financial intermediaries and their customers. “CKYC will also facilitate faster turnaround at substantial cost savings with an average cost of around Rs 1 per upload, download or update,” said Mukesh Agarwal, CEO, DotEx. At present, MFs and other securities market intermediaries pay about Rs 20 – Rs 35 per KYC.
The CKYC registry has a robust de-duplication process to ensure that no duplicate CKYC ID is issued. If a KYC record already exists or if someone applies with the different ID proof or contact details then the registry will be able to flag it to the concerned financial institution using other demographic details.
Details like mothers’ name, maiden name are being obtained to strengthen this de-duplication process to prevent any misuse of the system.
