Frequently asked Questions by Banks for AEPS

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

BY

BANKS

FOR

AADHAAR
ENABLED
PAYMENT
SYSTEM

Frequently asked Questions by Banks for AEPS

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1. What is AEPS?
AEPS is a new payment service offered by the National Payments Corporation of India to
banks, financial institutions using Aadhaar number and online UIDAI authentication through
their respective Business correspondent service centres. This shall be known as Aadhaar
Enabled Payment System and may also be referred to as AEPS.


2. Is this service approved by RBI?
The Reserve Bank of India has approved the pilot of AEPS.


3. Which system does this service use?
AEPS functions through the National Financial Switch of NPCI, which is also used for routing
inter bank ATM transactions and Interbank Mobile Payment Service (IMPS).


4. What is the messaging format used for AEPS?
AEPS transaction messages are as per the ISO 8583 standards.


5. What is IIN?
This number identifies the bank to which the customer has mapped his/her Aadhaar number.
Each bank would be issued a unique Issuer Identification Number (IIN) NPCI. This is a six digit
number.

The customer service point will have the IIN number represented on the terminal by various
bank logos/ bank names or the Business Correspondent (BC) agent will have a chart displayed of
various banks IIN in the customer service centre. Therefore the customer need not necessarily
remember the IIN. It is however recommended that the customer be aware of their bank IIN to
completely ensure an AEPS transaction. The banks currently in pilot using AEPS are as follows:


S. No. Bank Banks IIN
1. Bank Of India

508505
2. Corporation Bank

508507
3. Syndicate Bank

508508
4. Union Bank of India

508500
Frequently asked Questions by Banks for AEPS

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S. No. Bank Banks IIN
5. The Federal Bank Limited

508523
6. Dhanlaxmi Bank LTD

508528
7. Axis Bank

508533
8. ICICI Bank

508534
9. Allahabad Bank

508540
10. Indian Overseas Bank

508541
11. The Lakshmi Vilas Bank Ltd

508542
12. Central Bank of India

508546
13. Dena Bank

508547
14. State Bank of India

508548


Frequently asked Questions by Banks for AEPS

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6. What does the architecture look like?







Frequently asked Questions by Banks for AEPS

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7. What is the Process flow of AEPS?

I. Aadhaar Authentication - Process flow



Customers Inputs:

IIN
AADHAAR Number
Finger Print Data

Frequently asked Questions by Banks for AEPS

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II. Aadhaar Initiated Interbank Balance Enquiry - Process flow



Customers Inputs:

IIN
AADHAAR Number
Finger Print Data

Frequently asked Questions by Banks for AEPS

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III. Aadhaar Initiated Interbank Cash Deposit - Process flow



Customers Inputs:

IIN
AADHAAR Number
Amount of Cash to be Deposited
Finger Print Data

Frequently asked Questions by Banks for AEPS

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IV. Aadhaar initiated Interbank Cash Withdrawal Process
flow



Customers Inputs:

IIN
AADHAAR Number
Amount of Cash to be Withdrawn
Finger Print Data

Frequently asked Questions by Banks for AEPS

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V. Aadhaar to Aadhaar Interbank Funds Transfer - Process
flow



Remitting Customers Inputs:

IIN
Aadhaar Number
Amount to be remitted
Finger Print Data

Beneficiarys Details:

IIN
Aadhaar Number



Frequently asked Questions by Banks for AEPS

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8. Does the customer need to have a bank account for availing AEPS?
Yes, the customer needs to have a bank account linked to his/ her Aadhaar number with the
bank offering the AEPS service.


9. Does the customer need to specifically register to conduct transactions through AEPS?
During the Aadhaar enrolment exercise you may have been asked or filled the KYC form where
you may have indicated the need for a no frills bank account. In this case you need not
specifically enrol for the AEPS service.

In case you chose only to get the Aadhaar number during the enrolment exercise then you need
to approach your bank branch and ask for the form to link your Aadhaar number to your existing
bank account. Once this is confirmed by your bank, you are ready to use the AEPS service
through any bank Business Correspondent centre providing the AEPS service.


10. Can a customer link more than one account to the same Aadhaar number within a bank?
Yes. However the bank shall keep only one of the accounts as primary account which would
receive all AEPS transactions.


11. What details does the customer need to affect an AEPS transaction?
Three inputs are required:
Customer Aadhaar number
Customers fingerprint on the MicroATM for online verification
IIN number


12. What happens to the transaction if there is a communication failure between banks and
NPCI at the time of transaction?
NPCI has systems to identify which leg of the transaction has timed out for any network failure
reason. Depending upon which leg has timed out a reversal message gets generated. If there is
any transaction which still does not get reconciled at bank then the Dispute Management Module
available to Banks in AEPS network will be able to raise necessary adjustments, representments
or chargeback as the case may be.


13. How does reconciliation take place for AEPS transactions?
NPCI generates three types of file on a daily basis containing the Settlement file; raw data file
and verification file which contains the transactions pertaining to respective Banks. NPCI will
provide login details to aces them online for download. It is the banks responsibility to reconcile
these transactions with their AEPS and CBS system transaction log file on a daily basis.


14. Is there an amount limit for the participating banks for their transactions?
Yes, the limit allocated to the banks is called Net Debit Cap (NDC). The NDC calculated by NPCI at
any instant for the AEPS will be net of total outward and inward for the day. This is the
maximum allowable debit for a particular bank for a day. This value is decided on the basis of the
participating banks contribution to the Settlement Guarantee Fund.
Frequently asked Questions by Banks for AEPS

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15. Is there any limit with respect to amount for AEPS transactions?
Aadhaar based accounts would be opened on the basis of simplified KYC guidelines, where as
Banks will have to adhere to a certain limit, based on banks business rules for specific type of
account opened.


16. Who is responsible to monitor the amount limits at account level for AEPS transactions?
The participating banks have to monitor and control the amount limits as prescribed by RBI for
Guidelines for engaging of Business Correspondents (BCs) at the time of debit.


17. What are the charges levied by NPCI for AEPS transactions?
In view of helping the participating banks to promote AEPS transactions NPCI is not charging
any transaction fees for the pilot of this service. Post Pilot it will be `0.25 per AEPS transaction
and for gateway authentication service in case banks chose to route ONUS transactions for UIDAI
authentication will be charged at `0.10 per request.


18. When does the settlement happen?
The cutover of AEPS transactions happens to 23:00 hours each day. All transactions before this
time are included in the settlement for that particular day.


19. How is the settlement affected?
The settlement is affected by NPCIs Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS). As a joining procedure,
the participating banks need to submit a mandate for crediting and debiting their RTGS accounts
with the RBI in favour of NPCI. On the basis of this mandate NCPI would affect the settlement by
debiting/ crediting respective banks Current Account/s with such sums as may be specified by
the NPCI in its settlement instructions. The draft for all the documents will be provided by the
AEPS NPCI team when a bank envisages interest in joining the network.


20. What are the settlement files that a bank can receive from NPCI for AEPS?
For the convenience of banks, the settlement files and reports are developed similar to that of
National Financial Switch. The participating banks can download reports from the site using
login id and password issued to them by NPCI.

The bank may download raw data files (Acquirer & Issuer), settlement file (Acquirer &
Issuer), verification file (Acquirer & Issuer) and Daily Settlement Report from NPCIs AEPS
Dispute Management System.



Frequently asked Questions by Banks for AEPS

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21. How can a bank raise disputes with reference to AEPS transactions?

or

Is there any mechanism/system to address the disputes raised by member banks during
AEPS?
The disputes can be raised by participant banks using Dispute Management System provided by
NPCI. This service has also been developed similar to NFS for the convenience of participating
banks.


22. Which banking services can the customer avail using AEPS?
A customer can avail the following four services using AEPS:
a. Cash Withdrawal
b. Cash Deposit
c. Balance Enquiry
d. Fund Transfer

23. How are the Customers IIN & Aadhaar Number added in the respective fields on the
MicroATM terminal?
At the MicroATM Terminal the customer has two options. He can either manually input the
required information in the respective fields or he can swipe a RuPay ATM & MicoATM card with
Aadhaar number that would extract the relevant data from card and present for further
transaction processing


24. What are the steps to be followed by banks to issue RuPay ATM & MicroATM Card?
Steps to be followed by banks to issue RuPay ATM & MicroATM card are as under:
a. Bank to apply to NPCI with IIN agreement form
b. Once NPCI receives bank application, we shall process
c. NPCI shall assign ISO IIN to bank
d. Bank card artwork to be approved by NPCI team
e. Bank to share 30 test cards for NPCI NFS & MicroATM testing
f. Certification on NFS ATMs for RuPay ATM & MicroATM card
g. Certification on MicroATM for acceptance RuPay ATM & MicroATM card


25. Is there any membership fees?
a) All existing members of National Financial Switch (NFS) are eligible to participate in AEPS.
NFS members intending to participate in AEPS may apply for membership.
b) A bank that is not a member of NFS can also join AEPS provided :
i) The applicant bank is a type A member of the RBIs Real Time Gross Settlement
System.
ii) The applicant bank undertakes to join NFS within 3 months on payment of a onetime
membership fee of `3,00,000.00 (Rupees Three lakh only)
iii) The applicant bank is willing to contribute to the Settlement Guarantee Fund of NPCI.



Frequently asked Questions by Banks for AEPS

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26. What are the security measures taken for AEPS?
AEPS is a safe, convenient channel enabling micropayments. Every terminal has the encryption
as per UIDAI norms which are a pre-requisite. Any terminal not having this encryption or not
having this as per UIDAI standards will be unable to affect transaction under AEPS as they will
get rejected with an error code as invalid encryption on the terminal.

AEPS only supports real time online biometric verification using the Aadhaar number. The
fingerprints submitted during the enrolment of the individual need to match at the UIDAI server
end to make any transaction successful.


27. Which banks are members of AEPS?
Currently, the banks that are members of AEPS are ICICI Bank, Union Bank of India, Bank of
India. A link is provided in AEPS section of NPCI website which will host current banks under
certification.