You can now easily open a savings account online from the comforts of your home if you have a 12 digit Aadhar Number and a smart phone. Yes, the mobile banking in India has made this possible.
But, before we discuss how you can open a savings account online in India, let us know what a savings bank account is and how it works?
A savings bank account is a deposit account held at a bank where the customer opens his account and parks his money in return of a modest interest from the bank. It is the most preferred and must have account and the epicenter of all your financial transactions. Some of the utilities of a savings account are as follows –
- Save money whenever you want and earn interest for the number of days your money is lying in the account.
- A debit card is issued when you open a saving account and can be used for withdrawing money from ATMs or paying to merchants or making online payments.
- You can issue cheques for making payments.
- You can transfer and receive funds online via internet banking and Mobile App.
- You can set up ECS for paying loan EMIs, bill and insurance premium payments and mutual fund SIPs.
- You can link savings account with other accounts in the same bank, like term deposits and transfer extra amount (beyond the minimum balance requirement) from savings account to these accounts. This helps you earn more interest.
There are various forms of savings account, like – Salary savings account, special savings account for women or children etc. You need to maintain a minimum average monthly balance in your savings account to avail the above benefits. However, these days, due to advent of digital and mobile banking, many banks also offer you zero balance savings account.
How a savings account can be opened online
To open a savings account online, the banks in India leverages biometrics-enabled ID of Aadhaar card to ensure that there is no paperwork involved for opening the account. Aadhaar is a biometrics enabled 12 digit number Card which is linked to your mobile number and PAN number. Therefore, anyone having an Aadhaar Card and a smart phone can easily open the savings account online.
You can open the account by downloading the bank’s app on your smart phone. The moment you enter your personal details like, name, mobile number and Aadhar Card number, the bank sends you an OTP on your smart phone which you have to authenticate confirming the details entered by you. As your Aadhar is linked with your PAN Number and the Aadhar also has your address, there is no need to submit address proof separately. Therefore, with Aadhar card your KYC requirement is done and your account is opened without visiting the bank branch.
However, each bank has a different process of verifying your documents. For example, some banks will request you to upload the image of your PAN Card, Aadhar Card, your signature on a plain paper and your photograph for their records. While some banks have tie-up with merchants or partner stores where you can visit and verify your Aadhar details with fingerprints in the scanner to complete the account opening process. Some banks have even allowed taking selfie from the App itself which is used as your photograph in the account.
As the Government has now made linking of 12-digit Aadhaar number with your bank account mandatory, it proves that the person accessing or opening the bank account is the person who owns it. This also works for mandatory “know-your-client” formalities. This works well for our country as many of our citizens cannot write or read or have a bank branch at the place they are living.
Once your account is opened, using the Mobile Banking feature of your savings account, you can deposit, withdraw and transfer money with lightning speed. Breaking away from conventional banking norms which involves onerous form-filling, physical document submission and cumbersome processes, opening savings account online is a completely paperless, signature-less and branchless banking experience.
Digital and mobile banking aims to change banking the way we know as it brings the entire savings account squeezed to fit into our smartphones.
Today in India, we find ourselves in a digital world where the vegetable vendor accepts wallet payment without any fuss, a student can buy stationery using a debit card or a merchant uses QR code based scan and pay utility. Opening a savings account online without visiting the bank branch helps you remain paperless and do all you wanted to do with your savings account leveraging the new age banking. The objective of opening a savings account online is not only to make banking accessible to all citizens of the country but also meant to bring the millions who are still unbanked as there is no bank branch in their neighbourhood.