Utility Bills Valid Proof of Address to Open Account: RBI

Mumbai: Bills for postpaid mobile service, piped gas and water supply can now be submitted as proof of address for opening account with banks or other financial institutions, the Reserve Bank of India said on Thursday.

"Utility bill which is not more than two months old of any service provider (electricity, telephone, postpaid mobile phone, piped gas, water bill)" for the limited purpose of proof of address are deemed to be officially valid documents (OVDs) under simplified measures, the RBI said in a notification.

The government has amended the Prevention of Money Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, 2005 providing additional relaxations for the purpose of proof of address, it said.

Bank account or Post Office savings account statements and pension/family pension payment orders (PPOs) issued to retired employees by government departments or PSUs, if they contain the address too, will be officially valid documents.

A letter of allotment of accommodation from employer issued by government, regulatory bodies, PSUs, banks, financial institutions or listed companies has also been added to the list of OVDs.

Similarly, documents issued by government departments of foreign jurisdictions and letter issued by a foreign embassy or Mission in India too are OVDs.

These will be officially valid documents for proof of address in case of banks, all payment system providers, prepaid payment instrument issuers and money transfer agents.

In July last year, the RBI had said that only passport, driving licence, PAN card, voter's identity card, MNREGA job card and Aadhaar number were to be considered officially valid documents for proof of identity and address required at the time opening an account of an individual and "it is implied that proof of address also follows from the above documents only".