Five banks, including State Bank of India, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank introduced Saral Money bank account product which allows customers to open a bank account using Aadhaar card as identity and address proof.

RBI recently notified banks to accept Aadhaar letter as the proof of address and identity if the address provided by the accountholder is same as that on Aadhaar card.

Ms. Shikha Sharma, Managing Director and CEO of Axis Bank said during the launch of Saral Money, "Through a product like Aadhaar-enabled KYC (Know Your Customer), we are bringing down the cost of account and that makes a product lot more attractive. And it will definitely further the cause of financial inclusion," Axis Bank Managing Director and CEO Shikha Sharma said during the launch of Saral Money". It is jointly launched by Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI and Indian Overseas Bank.

Customers can open a bank account using the Aadhaar letter as a proof of identity and address at any of these banks or business correspondents (BC) outlets.

Ms. Sharma said, "Both for address proof and identity, Aadhaar can be used. To me of course, all of us would change our process and will not require a separate address proof (for opening an account). We needed it because of the regulatory requirement".