Frequently Asked Questions

KYC is an acronym for "Know your Customer", a term used for customer identification. It involves making reasonable efforts to determine true identity and beneficial ownership of accounts, source of funds, the nature of customer's business, reasonableness of operations in the account in relation to the customer's business, etc which in turn helps the banks to manage their risks prudently. The objective of the KYC guidelines is to prevent banks being used, intentionally or unintentionally by criminal elements for money laundering. KYC has two components - Identity and Address. While identity remains the same, the address may change and hence the banks are required to periodically update their records.
CKYC stands for Central Know Your Customer. It's like a single ID card for all your financial needs in India. Imagine having a single number that stores all your personal details (such as name, address, and ID proofs) in a secure, government-managed system. This number is referred to as your CKYC number, and it's a 14-digit unique code.
With CKYC, you don't need to submit documents like your PAN card or Aadhaar card every time you deal with a bank, insurance company, or mutual fund. Once your CKYC is done, you can use this number to start new financial services quickly. It saves time, reduces paperwork, and makes life easier!

For example:
  • Opening a new bank account? Just share your CKYC number
  • Buying a mutual fund? No need to submit documents again
  • Getting insurance? Your CKYC number does the job

CKYC is managed by a government body called CERSAI (Central Registry of Securitisation Asset Reconstruction and Security Interest). They keep your information safe and share it with banks or companies only when needed.
Yes. To ensure that the latest details about the customer are available, banks have been advised to periodically update the customer identification data based upon the risk category of the customers. Banks create a customer profile based on details about the customer like social/financial status, nature of business activity, information about his clients' business and their location, the purpose and reason for opening the account, the expected origin of the funds to be used within the relationship and details of occupation/employment, sources of wealth or income, expected monthly remittance, expected monthly withdrawals etc. When the transactions in the account are observed not consistent with the profile, the bank may ask for any additional details / documents as required. This is just to confirm that the account is not being used for any Money Laundering/Terrorist/Criminal activities.
Customer identification means identifying the customer and verifying his/her identity by using reliable, independent source documents, data or information. Banks have been advised to lay down Customer Identification Procedure to be carried out at different stages i.e. while establishing a banking relationship; carrying out a financial transaction or when the bank has a doubt about the authenticity/veracity or the adequacy of the previously obtained customer identification data.
There are two aspects of Customer Identification. One is establishing identity and the other is establishing a present residential address. For establishing identity, the bank requires any authentic document carrying a photo of the customer such as driving licence/ passport/ pan card/ voters' card etc. Though these documents carry the residential address of the customer, it may not be the present address. Therefore, in order to establish the present address of the customer, in addition to passport/ driving licence / voters' card / pan card, the bank may ask for utility bills such as Telephone / Electricity bill etc.
Yes. In such cases where the utility bills required for address verification are not in the name of the person who wants to open an account ( close relatives, e.g. wife, son, daughter and daughter and parents etc. who live with their husband, father/mother and son, as the case may be) , an identity document and a utility bill of the relative with whom the prospective customer is living along with a declaration from the relative that the said person (prospective customer) wanting to open an account is a relative and is staying with him/her is acceptable. As supplementary evidence, the bank may ask for a letter received through post for further confirmation.
Banks rely on such certification only from corporate and other entities of repute provided that they are aware of the competent authority designated by the concerned employer to issue such certificate. In addition, banks also require at least one of the valid documents indicated above viz. Passport, Driving Licence, PAN Card, Voter's Identity Card etc. or utility bills for KYC purposes for opening bank accounts of salaried employees of corporate and other entities.
Yes. The information collected from the customer for the purpose of opening of account is treated as confidential and details thereof are not divulged for cross selling or any other similar purposes.
Where the bank is unable to apply appropriate KYC measures due to non-furnishing of information and /or non-cooperation by the customer, the bank can consider closing the account or terminating the banking/business relationship after issuing due notice to the customer explaining the reasons for taking such a decision.
RBI has directed all banks to promptly detect, impound, and report counterfeit Indian currency notes and ensure that such notes are never returned to the tenderer nor re-circulated. All cash receipts of ₹100 and above must be machine-processed using note sorting/detection machines or UV lamps before re-issue. Branches must also educate customers and the public to check currency notes during routine transactions.
When a counterfeit note is detected, it must be impounded and stamped “COUNTERFEIT BANKNOTE IMPOUNDED”, an acknowledgement receipt issued to the tenderer, and the case reported as per RBI norms. Detection of 5 or more counterfeit notes in a single transaction requires immediate police reporting and FIR, while cases involving less than 5 notes are to be reported through a monthly consolidated statement to the police. Banks must maintain records and submit prescribed periodic returns to RBI and other authorities.
All procedures, reporting, and documentation must strictly follow the formats prescribed by RBI under its Master Circular dated April 03, 2023.

RBI Prescribed Annexures / Forms (Mandatory):
  • Annex I - Format for Impounding of Counterfeit Notes
  • Annex II - Acknowledgement Receipt to the Tenderer
  • Annex III - Monthly Consolidated Report to Police
  • Annex IV - Format for Lodging FIR (for 5 or more notes in one transaction)
  • Annex V - Detection Report to RBI / Currency Chest (where applicable)
  • Annex VI - Monthly Statement of Counterfeit Notes Detected
All Annexures available at https://www.rbi.org.in/commonman/English/scripts/Notification.aspx?Id=3005