The six papers that open a bank account, and the small account that works without any of them

Background

Know Your Customer is the process by which a regulated entity, a bank among them, collects and verifies a customer's identity, address, nature of business and financial standing. The check is run when an account-based relationship begins, when a walk-in customer puts through an occasional transaction of 50,000 rupees or more, when any international money transfer is handled, and when the entity doubts the data it already holds. The officially valid documents number six: proof of possession of Aadhaar number, the passport, the driving licence, the job card issued by NREGA, a letter from the National Population Register, and the Voter's Identity Card of the Election Commission of India. A customer who holds none of them can still open a small account on a self-attested photograph, certified by a designated officer of the bank, and it stays operational initially for twelve months. If the valid document does not carry the present address, a utility bill not more than two months old and a few similar papers are deemed valid for address alone, and the proper document has to follow within three months. Aadhaar is not compulsory for the check, except where the customer wants a benefit or subsidy under a notified scheme. A unique code called the KYC Identifier is given by the Central KYC Records Registry, and with the customer's explicit consent another entity can pull the stored records instead of asking for the papers again.