Benefits of linking your Aadhaar number with your Bank Account

Aadhaar number or Aadhaar card number is a 12 digit unique identification number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on behalf of the Government of India. It serves as a proof of identity and address for the citizens of Indian. UIDAI has enrolled over 800 Million Aadhaar till today and stands as the world’s largest biometrics program.

Benefits of linking your Aadhaar number with your Bank Account

A crutial undertaking for the government, under the Digital India mission is to link Aadhaar numbers to bank accounts of the Aadhaar card holders. A major milestone has been reached with the linking of 10 crore Aadhaar numbers with bank accounts. This will enable individuals to avail several benefits. People would be able to receive government welfare subsidies and other payments directly into their bank accounts through the digital medium.

For seeding the Aadhaar Card Number into their bank account, account holders need to provide consent for it. According to the directive by the government of India, both new and existing customers can link their Aadhaar number to their bank accounts.

For those who do not have a bank account, opening a new bank account has also become easier with Aadhaar. Aadhaar letter provided by UIDAI is now acceptable by banks as a valid proof to open a new account. In fact, it can also serve as an address proof if the current residence of the person applying for the account is the same as that on the Aadhaar card. This has also reduced the hassle of providing a bunch of documents to the banks for opening an account.

In this blog we have highlighted the benefits of linking the Aadhaar number to bank accounts, in detail. Receiving the social welfare scheme payments, and other schemes run by government of India is essentially the most important benefit of this. Following are the schemes:

1. Direct Benefits Transfer (DBTL): Ones the LPG consumer number is associated with the Aadhaar linked bank account, LPG cylinder subsidy would be directly credited to bank account of the consumer. The subsidy amount is the difference between market price and subsidised rate. You can choose to opt out of LPG subsidy, which will benefit the government monetarily.
2. Subsidy for commodity products: The government offers subsidy for various commodity products such as kerosene, sugar, rice, pulses and other products. The subsidy amount for these products would also get transferred to the linked bank account.
3. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MNREGA): According to this scheme, wages will be credited directly to the Aadhaar linked bank account of the worker.
4. Tribal welfare schemes: Payments from these schemes will also be credited to the Aadhaar linked bank account.
5. Scholarship: Students who receive scholarship from the government can recieve this money only if their bank account is linked with their Aadhaar number. This account has to be on the name of the student. However, this is mandatory only for the students from select Indian states.
6. Country wide access: Aadhaar linked bank accounts will be accessible from anywhere in the country. Furthermore, consumers will be able to access their accounts at ATMs through their Aadhaar number, in the future.