The country's central bank has made Aadhaar and PAN cards mandatory for all the individuals for opening a bank account.

The Reserve Bank of India said that the updated know-your-customer (KYC) requirement was subject to the country's Apex body's final judgment related to Aadhaar, for which the hearing is currently underway.

The RBI updated the master circular on KYC norms where it avoided various documents that could be used for quick reference purpose.

The new updated circular by RBI states that for opening a new bank account, the customer has to submit both the Aadhaar and PAN numbers. In case, if these necessary documents are not available then the customer has to provide proof that they have applied for these identification documents within the previous six months.

According to the circular, without Aadhaar and PAN numbers, account holders would be assigned 'small accounts', which have severe restrictions on transactions and are closely monitored to ensure no foreign transactions take place.

"In case an individual customer who does not have Aadhaar/enrollment number and PAN and desires to open a bank account, banks shall open a 'small account'," the circular said.

Such accounts are opened only at core banking solution-linked branches or in a branch where it is possible to manually monitor and ensure that foreign remittances are not credited to the account.

The amended KYC master document was uploaded on the RBI website, where the central bank said it was acting "in accordance with the changes carried out in the PML (Prevention of Money Laundering) Rules vide Gazette Notification GSR 538 (E) dated June 1, 2017, and thereafter and is subject to the final judgment of the Honorable Supreme Court".

The mandatory Aadhaar rules, however, will not be applicable in Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and Meghalaya.

An individual, who is a resident in the State of Jammu and Kashmir or Assam or Meghalaya, and who do not submit Aadhaar or proof of application of enrollment for Aadhaar, the following shall be obtained: a certified copy of an Officially Valid Document (OVD) containing details of identity and address and one recent photograph.