MUMBAI: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today issued a stern order to link Aadhaar numbers with all bank accounts by the end of the current financial year i.e. March 31, 2021. Sitaraman made the remarks while addressing the 43rd Annual General Meeting of the Indian Bankers’ Association (IBA). “Economic inclusion is not over in the country,” he said. Banks still have to take the lead. There are many bank accounts that do not have Aadhaar attached. He asked the four banks to add PAN numbers by March 31 and add Aadhaar numbers to each account. In addition, banks need to discourage non-digital transactions. He encouraged ordinary people as well to take part in solving this great task: “One of the things you and other people can do is keep up the pressure … there are going to be some difficult decisions for government”. He encouraged ordinary people as well to take part in solving this great task: “One of the things you and other people can do is keep up the pressure … there are going to be some difficult decisions for government”.
