Monday, October 23, 2017

In the name of Aadhar

I am having an account at State Bank of Travancore the now called State Bank of India Kunnamangalam branch, Kozhikode. I was not been using it for a while, so before I gave the cheque for something, I called SBI Kunnamangalam on 19-10-2017 at 11:31 AM and was informed it was inactive.

I reached SBI Kunnamangalam around 3:00 PM and got the KYC form. The form mentions PAN Card, Driving Licence, Voter-ID etc are valid KYC proof which I was already having with me at the time. I was also having my Aadhar digital copy on my mobile. The lady ( ~ 50 year old ) who was verifying the document was not willing to take anything except the original Aadhar ( By original I mean the physical copy send to you via courier or post ). I have not received my original aadhar, so I told her I cannot submit the same, but can provide the number or photocopies or even show her on my mobile.

But she was not willing and was telling me to come another day with Original aadhar and then only she can make the account active. I asked here where can I get this original Aadhar and she told you can collect from Akshaya. I wasn't aware where Akshaya was, for I have moved from Kunnamangalam some years back. I enquired to some other shop and finally reached Akshaya.

The officials at Akshaya told they cannot give the original aadhar. We can only take print outs, laminate it and give this. They told me to enquire what the lady officer really need. Now she was telling me to get something that Akshaya can give you. I went and collected a print out from Akshaya and reached SBI. By the time it was around 3:35 PM.

I was irritated with this old lady and this KYC process and was asking how to close the account. She pointed me to another young lady. She did her job well that the bank retains the account. She made the necessary changes and to make the account active I was asked to do a debit of 100 INR. No clerical staffs were willing to do the same and I told the old lady to do something. She was telling me to come another day that I can even close the account. I don't know what she is doing there? Does SBI pays for her to close every accounts?

Let me clarify that she was not quaralling with me, but was polite and not ready to accept any of the documents ( Voters-ID, PAN card or Driving license ).

Further I created

1. 3381020359
2. 3382956049

via http://cms.onlinesbi.com/CMS/ .


Both the tickets are closed without informing what actions are taken or giving me proper replies to the questions. SBI let the customers know what actions are taken, or how did you addressed the queries related to the customer. Ask them whether they are satisfied or not etc. That is how you resolve a ticket.

The questions are :


1. Why is my Voters-ID, PAN, Driving license not considered as valid KYC ?


2. Doesn't the bank have a way to verify my aadhar number online? If so why does your staff send me multiple times to Akshaya?

3. Why do you compell people to show original aadhar when ekyc is available at banks? ( I came to know this facility is available at many banks )

My account got active, you may be wondering why am I still behind this? There are many illiterate people who comes to bank and who don't know what to do. When the officials duty is to help, they instead is not willing to do the same. Aren't the officials irritating the people who comes to take their money in the name of governement policies / Aadhar ?

NOTE : UIDAI says 10 INR for black and white print out, but people collect 20 INR, but I am ok about paying the same to make things work.