Difficulty in opening a bank account

A Story by Om

The practical hardship in opening a simple savings account in India due to bureaucratic processes

On one hand, the RBI introduced KYC to protect the nation's monetary dealings & deter illegal activity. On the other, not accepting the only address proof most tenants have (I.e. rental agreement with the landlord), means that honest people are devoid of a bank account. Does this not only defeat the whole object of KYC, considering that bills will not be in the tenant's name? Silly really...just like the newly introduced Rs.2Lakh cut off beyond which, any gold jewellery purchase attracts warranting a PAN card. Jewellers have gone on strike as this proposition hasn't gone down too well with the public, many of whom don't have a PAN card...all the honest people denied will just end up dealing with their proceeds in black - the government's drive to reduce crime & fraud is actually having the reverse effect in many instances...a basic account with a cap of Rs.50K is a joke...even the lowest earning individuals earn more than that in a year!