NRIs relieved as GOI exempt Aadhaar for financial transactions

Indian expats across the globe have heaved a sigh of relief after the government of India exempted Aadhaar card for any financial transaction in India. Despite the exemptions that was previously announced by the Indian authorities, many NRIs expressed their concerns pertaining to transactions in banks in India and filing of income tax returns. 

While PAN was already mandated for holding a bank accounting, the NRIs are more concerned about a June 30 deadline to link Aadhaar with PAN. Now if the Aadhaar card has to be linked with PAN, the purpose of PAN becomes redundant. This again instills apprehension among the NRIs who believe that the new development will ultimately effect the transactions they make in India.

While PAN is mandatory for making cash deposits over Rs 50,000 with banks in India, the alignment of PAN card with the Aadhaar card will certainly effect the people investing in the Indian stock market. However, this concern too was alleviated by the GOI, which said that requirement of quoting of Aadhaar card shall not apply to NRIs for filing the return of income. Aadhaar card will also not be necessary for making an application for PAN with effect from July 1, 2017. 

The government started offering these exemptions to NRIs after a top official clarified that NRIs were not eligible fro Aadhaar and the onus was on the government departments to give exemptions to NRIs in this regard. 

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