Aadhaar to become essential for corporate filings

To improve the security of statutory files and ensure accountability, the Indian government intends to make Aadhaar biometric verification mandatory for designated directors and professionals, such as company secretaries, involved in posting statutory documents. Those who are authorised to submit papers and forms on behalf of businesses and are registered as “business users” on the MCA21 website will be subject to the requirement. In order to improve filer authentication procedures, the Ministry is upgrading its statutory filing system. To do this, it is completely rebuilding its IT infrastructure and adopting new web-based forms that enable instantaneous data verification.

Business users are required to do Know Your Customer (KYC) verification using one-of-a-kind digital signatures, Permanent Account Numbers (PANs), Director Identification Numbers (DINs), or identification numbers from professional organisations. To tackle financial irregularities and money laundering linked to shell businesses, the ministry plans to add Aadhaar-based biometric verification to the list of identifying criteria.