The government has made biometric identification Aadhaar mandatory for all post office deposits, Public Provident Fund, National Savings Certificate scheme and Kisan Vikas Patra.
Finance Ministry has issued four separate Gazette notifications making Aadhaar mandatory for opening all post office deposit accounts, Public Provident Fund, National Savings Certificate scheme and Kisan Vikas Patra deposits.
Existing depositors who have not provided Aadhaar number at the time of application for such deposit “shall submit his Aadhaar number to the post office savings bank or deposit office concerned, on or before December 31, 2017.
The government has insisted on quoting Aadhaar for bank deposits, obtaining mobile phone and several other utilities to weed out benami deals and black money.