Amendment: ‘Other’ e-KYC Techniques for e-Signatures'

e-KYC Techniques Allowed for e-Signatures:-

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has issued a notification amending the Second Schedule to the Information Technology Act, 2000. In a nutshell, Section 3A of the IT Act,2000 specifies that a subscriber may authenticate any electronic record by such electronic signature or electronic authentication which is considered reliable and may be specified in the Second Schedule. The Second Schedule of the Information Technology Act prior to the amendment only mentioned e-Authentication technique using Aadhaar e-KYC services as the only mode of e-Authentication. This, in turn, meant that the mode of the electronic signature would have to be Aadhaar eKYC based to be valid.

The amendment to the Second Schedule dated 5th March 2019 has inserted the word “other” after Aadhaar in Second Schedule. The Second Schedule post the amendment would read as ‘e-Authentication technique using Aadhaar and other e-KYC services’. This indicates that Electronic Signature can now be generated by the Certifying Authority, using e-Authentication techniques which may or may not be Aadhaar, as long as it is issued in accordance with the e-Authentication Guidelines issued by the Controller of Certifying Authority.

Consequent Amendments have been made to Form C Schedule IV of the Information Technology Certifying Authority Rules, 2000.

It is to be noted that prior to the substitution Form C was as hereinunder

FORM C

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APPLICATION FORM FOR ISSUE OF DIGITAL SIGNATURE CERTIFICATE THROUGH AADHAAR BASED IDENTITY VERIFICATION OF DIGITAL SIGNATURE CERTIFICATE APPLICANT

Class of certificate applied: Individual

Aadhaar No* : ………………………………………………..

Name : ……………………………………………….

E-mail address : ………………………………………………

Residential Address* : ………………………………………………

Valid Phone Number : ………………………………………………

Date:

Authenticated by Aadhaar e-KYC ref No (response code)

Note1- This is an electronic application form automatically generated through Aadhaar e-KYC based electronic authentication of the applicant.

Note 2- * Denotes Mandatory Field.

After the substitution-

FORM C

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APPLICATION FORM FOR ISSUE OF DIGITAL SIGNATURE CERTIFICATE THROUGH eKYC BASED IDENTITY VERIFICATION OF DIGITAL SIGNATURE CERTIFICATE APPLICANT

Class of certificate applied: Individual

eKYC No : ………………………………………………

Name : ………………………………………………

E-mail address : ………………………………………………

Residential Address : ………………………………………………

Mobile Phone Number : ………………………………………………

Date ……………

Authenticated by e-KYC services ref. No: (response code)

Note 1. This is an electronic application form automatically generated through e-KYC based electronic authentication of an applicant.

Note 2. * Denotes mandatory fields “.

Analysis-

Aadhaar based Authentication has been substituted with eKYC Based Identity Verification
Aadhaar Number has been substituted with eKYC Number

This change being effected post the Aadhaar Verdict introduces the scope of Electronic Signature being generated based on other KYC details in addition to Aadhaar eKYC Services.