The government may soon come up with a single KYC (Know Your Customer) for all financial services to further improve ease of doing business, a top finance ministry official said.
“The work on single KYC for all kinds of financial services is in the making and should come out soon,” Ajay Seth, Secretary, Department of Economic affairs said Friday.
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He was responding to a question asked at the annual general meeting organized by FICCI.
“The government has set up a committee headed by the deputy RBI Governor and it has completed their work,” Seth said.
The move was first announced by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last year to further reduce the compliance burden of businesses.
“We are also now working in such a way that once you have given your KYC, it can be applicable at various institutions at various times for various requirements that you may have and you may not have to do it each time, even if the businesses that you’re engaged in are slightly different,” Sitharaman had said.
Seth added that the move will reduce paperwork and cost burden on businesses.
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On UPI
Talking about India’s digital infrastructure in general and UPI payment in particular, Seth said that the world is now recognizing the model and many countries after Singapore, including UAE and US are now asking the government to connect to their digital payment system.
“We started with Singapore, now we are getting requests from the US to connect to our payment system,” Seth said, adding that the Reserve Bank of India and the US Federal Bank are already in talks regarding that.
Seth added that India’s digital payment infrastructure is adding about 4% to the economy.
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On Inflation
Seth said that there is “stickiness” in inflation and that is keeping inflation away from the targeted 4 per cent level and for food inflation some supply side measures are being taken when necessary.
“Whatever supply-side measures are to be taken in terms of food products they are being taken as and when necessary,” Seth said, adding that some variation on a month-on-month basis can happen, which can be on account of either base effect or any commodity prices going up on a temporary basis.
His statement comes on a day the RBI retained retail inflation projection for the current fiscal at 5.4%, underscoring that inflation may see an uptick in November and December due to pressure on food prices.
