The Indian authorities is permitting banks to confirm particular person transactions that exceed a sure annual restrict utilizing facial recognition and an iris scan in some circumstances, in a bid to scale back fraud and tax evasion, three sources instructed Reuters.
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A number of massive personal and public banks have begun utilizing the choice, mentioned one of many sources, a banker, who declined to call the banks. The advisory permitting the verification shouldn’t be public and has not beforehand been reported.
The verification shouldn’t be obligatory and is meant for circumstances the place one other authorities identification card used for tax functions, the Permanent Account Number (PAN) card, shouldn’t be shared with banks.
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The prospect of banks utilizing facial recognition has involved some privateness consultants.
“This raises substantial privacy concerns especially when India lacks a dedicated law on privacy, cybersecurity and facial recognition,” mentioned Pavan Duggal, an advocate and cyber regulation knowledgeable.
The authorities has mentioned it’s focusing on parliamentary approval of a brand new privateness regulation by early 2023.
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The new measures can be utilized to confirm identities of people making deposits and withdrawals exceeding 2 million rupees ($24,478.61) in a monetary yr, the place the Aadhaar identification card is shared as proof of establish, mentioned two authorities officers, who requested to not be named as a result of the knowledge shouldn’t be public.
The Aadhaar card has a singular quantity tied to a person’s fingerprints, face and eye scan.
India’s finance ministry in December requested banks to take “necessary action” on a letter by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which recommended verification needs to be finished by facial recognition and iris scanning, particularly the place fingerprint authentication of a person fails.
The letter from the UIDAI, which is answerable for Aadhaar card issuance, makes no point out of a consent framework for the verification. Nor does it say that banks can take any motion if a buyer refuses.
The newest advisory follows a authorities order final yr that mandated the quoting of an Aadhaar card or PAN quantity for making deposits or withdrawals exceeding 2 million rupees in a monetary yr.
UIDAI and the finance ministry didn’t reply to requests for remark.
This story has been printed from a wire company feed with out modifications to the textual content. Only the headline has been modified.
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