The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) asked all regulated entities (RES) on Thursday to take appropriate measures to ensure compliance with the Guidelines of the Supreme Court that make the Digital KYC process accessible to persons with disabilities, in particular facial / eyeweling figurations as a result of acid attacks and visual disorders.
The SC guidelines require that authorities/ministries designate a nodes in each department responsible for compliance with digital accessibility.
The respondent authorities must set up special help lines for people with disabilities and offer step-by-step assistance in completing the KYC process through speech or video support.
The authorities are instructed to set up a mechanism for human assessment of rejected KYC applications in cases where accessibility-related challenges occur successful verification.
A designated officer must be authorized to ignore automated rejections and approve requests on a case -by -case basis.
This order was accepted in the case of two written petitions – Pragya Prasun & others versus Union of India & Others; And Amar Jain vs Union of India & others.
The APEX Court said that all regulated entities must be undergone undergoing periodic accessibility audit by certified accessibility professionals and people with blindness in the testing of user acceptance, while designing an app or website or in the case of a new function is launched.
The court emphasized that RBI will spend guidelines on all regulated entities to adopt and include alternative modes for verifying the “liveliness” or making a “live photo” of the customers with the aim of making digital KYC / E-KYC outside the traditional “blinking eyes” to ensure inclusiveness and user.
Furthermore, RBI will give appropriate clarifications / guidelines / directions to all res that can be done by customer due diligence and on-boarding of new customers with the help of the video-based KYC process or the “V-CIP” procedure, whereby flashing of the eyes is no mandatory requirement.
The court underlined that he must design their KYC templates or customer acquisition forms Respector authorities to record the type of handicap and the percentage of the customer and to register in the correct manner as part of the Accound Records to offer them accessible services or reasonable accommodations.
The respondent authorities must give all regulated entities clear instructions to accept the image of the thumb print during the digital KYC process.
RBI was asked to change the Master Direction (MD) on KYC to improve the implementation of the ‘OTP-based e-KYC authentication’ (face-to-face) to customers.
The court said that paper KYC process for verification of customers will continue, so that the proposers and other persons placed in the same way can be used to use an accessible alternative to complete the KYC procedure.
The respondent authorities offer options for the interpretation of sign language, closed captions and audio descriptions for users of visual and hearing.
The court said that the Respondent Authorities will develop alternative formats, including Braille, easy to read formats, speech -driven services, to distribute government reports and to provide public services, ensuring accessibility for everyone.
The respondent authorities are obliged to ensure that online services, including e-Governance platforms, digital payment systems and e-launch platforms, are accessible to people with disabilities, which promotes barrier-free digital environment.
Published on August 14, 2025
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