New Delhi: Regulator Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA) on Wednesday said linkage of Aadhaar number with insurance policies is mandatory and asked insurers to comply with the statutory norms.

“The Authority clarifies that, linkage of Aadhaar number to insurance policies is mandatory under the Prevention of Money Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Second Amendment Rules, 2017,” the IRDA said.

The government had in June had notified the Prevention of Money Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Second Amendment Rules, 2017, making Aaadhar and PAN/Form 60 mandatory for availing financial services including insurance and also for linking the existing policies with the same.

In a communication to all life and general insurance companies, IRDA said the rules have “statutory force” and as such they have to implement them without awaiting further instructions.

Commenting on the communication, MD and CEO of ICICI Lombard Bhargav Dasgupta said it is a progressive and logical step towards creating a unified platform for financial services and at the same time promote the government’s digitization agenda.

“While there may be some short term challenges to overcome, we see significant long term benefits in terms of preventing frauds and streamlining the KYC process,” he said.

There are 24 life insurance companies and 33 general insurers (including standalone health insurance firms) operating in the country.