New Delhi: One97 Communications Ltd, which runs the online payments firm Paytm, has started Aadhaar-based electronic know your customer (eKYC) process of user verification, the company said in a statement on Monday.

Regulated entities like banks and wallet providers are required to carry out certain customer identification procedures while establishing account-based relationships and undertaking transactions.

Paytm, which is one of the recipients of a payments bank licence, plans to launch its payment bank services before November.

KYC is a process of verifying the identity of the user and a regulatory norm to prevent identity theft, financial fraud, money laundering and terrorist financing. Earlier, a typical KYC process would take several days that required in person exercise of filling up forms and submitting copies of identity and address proof.

Paytm said the Aadhaar-based eKYC is entirely paperless, instant and secure. A customer’s identity is verified instantly by matching the biometric scan of a fingerprint or iris against the Aadhaar database.

Paytm already has close to 135 million wallets.

“We are building India’s largest eKYC customer network to bring half-a-billion Indians to the mainstream economy. We have aggressive targets to become the largest Aadhar-based eKYC company in the country," said Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and chief executive officer, Paytm, in the statement.

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