How to link Aadhar to Mutual Funds portfolio

Here’s How to link Aadhar to Mutual Funds portfolio:

How to link Aadhar to Mutual Funds portfolio

Now you have to link your aadhar number with mutual fund portfolio!

Yes, you read it right.

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Under the latest amendment to Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Rules, 2017, the government wants you to do this. It is yet another step in a slew of measures aimed at reducing corruption and money laundering in the economy.

This regulation requires financial Institutions like Mutual Funds (MF) to obtain Aadhaar Number from their clients and link the same to their respective MF portfolios.

There may be clients who have not been assigned an Aadhaar number. In such cases, the client may furnish proof of application of enrolment for Aadhaar.

In an event where PAN is not submitted, the client needs to submit one certified copy of an ‘officially valid document’.

Since this linking has been made mandatory, you might notice your fund house asking you to provide your aadhar number.

To make the transition smooth, many Register & Transfer (R&T) agents like CAMS & KARVY have extended online facility to link aadhar number to mutual fund portfolios.

Who are Registrar & Transfer (R&T) agents?

R&T agents are institutions hired by AMCs to look after their back-end processes.

These institutions maintain record of all the MF transactions conducted by the unit holders. This includes buying, selling, switching funds, etc.

These organisations also maintain record of non-financial transactions like change in bank details of the investor, etc,.

By wide network of branches, R&T agents send account statements to investors. These also keep the investors updated about new fund offers (NFO), payments of dividends, portfolio consolidations, etc.

The prominent R&T agents in Indian mutual fund industry are:

– Computer Age Management Services (CAMS)
– Karvy Computershare
– Franklin Templeton International Services
– Sundaram BNP Paribas Fund Services

Out of these, CAMS and Karvy serve the major MF domain. Franklin Templeton International Services is an in-house R&T for Franklin Templeton Mutual Funds.

Sundaram BNP Paribas Fund Services is an in-house R&T for Sundaram and BNP Paribas Mutual Funds.

Also read: Why and how to link Aadhaar with PAN

Am I required to link aadhar to MF portfolio?

After the amendment was brought about, confusions linger as to who should comply with this requirement and who should not.

This confusion needs to be busted.

Read on to find out more.

The government came up with the Central KYC (cKYC) Registry in August 2016. In this, a central registry would keep the KYC documents of an individual in safe custody.

This will eliminate repetitive submission of KYC documents. Whenever an entity requires proof of address (PoA) & proof of identity (PoI) of an individual, it may contact the registry for the same.

Under the cKYC arrangement, you may submit any one of the 7 different documents as notified acceptable towards proof of address (PoA) & proof of identity (PoI). Aadhar number is one among these.

Those of you who haven’t submitted Aadhar number under the cKYC would fall under this new requirement.

You would have to submit aadhar number to the Asset Management Company (AMC); to be linked to your mutual fund portfolio.

Those of you who had already submitted Aadhar number to cKYC would also have to fulfill this new requirement. They would be required to link their aadhar number to mutual fund portfolio.

Steps to link Aadhar number to MF portfolio

Lately, CAMS has been at the forefront to provide an online facility for aadhar number linking to the mutual funds investors.

You may link your aadhar number to MF portfolio using the online/offline facility of CAMS.

Online Facility

Please follow the steps given below:

How to link Aadhar to Mutual Funds portfolio

1. Visit the link https://www.camsonline.com/InvestorServices/COL_Aadhar.aspx to access CAMS website.

2. The page asks you to enter your PAN and registered e-mail. As soon as you enter the details, the page automatically displays names of fund houses wherein you have MF holdings.

CAMS is the R&T agent for only 15 mutual fund houses. In case you find some fund houses missing, you may have to repeat this process with other R&T agents.

3. Click on the respective fund houses and enter the mobile number which is registered with the fund house. Click “Submit”.

4. You will get a One-time password (OTP) on your mobile number. Enter the OTP.

5. Upon entering OTP, you will receive an acknowledgment. It will state that your aadhar number will be linked to respective MF folios after verification of the information provided by you.

6. You will also receive acknowledgment on your email id from UIDAI. It will state that your aadhar number was used successfully to carry out authentication by CAMS.

Offline Facility

You can also link aadhar number to MF portfolio offline. This mode is relevant for those investors who were unable to do the same online; might be due to non-availability of a mobile number or email in the aadhar number.

In this mode, you can download the form from CAMS website. Afterwards, submit the duly filled and signed form at the nearest CAMS/AMC branch.

You can also send the duly filled and signed the form by post or courier to the nearest branch.

Implications of linking Aadhar number to MF portfolio

When you initiate linking aadhar number with MF portfolio, it has implications.

Firstly, you are allowing the agent like CAMS to seed your Aadhar number with the respective folios maintained with particular AMCs. Along with that, you are also authorizing the agent to perform due diligence requirements associated with PMLA and UIDAI guidelines.

Then, you are permitting the agent to download and share your Aadhar related demographic information with KYC agencies like the cKYC registry, as required under PMLA guidelines.

Moreover, it’s like authorizing the agent to update your existing and new folios using the information contained in Aadhar number.

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Final Words

So, now you know how to go about your task of linking aadhar number with mutual fund portfolio. Although the government has set 31 December 2017 as the deadline; you may get going with your linking as soon as possible. In case of any delays/negligence in linking aadhar with MF folio, you may face difficulty in conducting mutual fund transactions in future.

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