When AMFI decided to come out with an identification system for investors wanting to invest in mutual funds, it was a feeling of deja vu all over again. Having seen the “efficiency” of the regulatory bodies over the PAN/UIN/MAPIN fiasco, one wonders if this was really necessary.

We are already saddled with requirement of so many different kinds of documents, whether for address or ID verification that it is no longer funny. A person needs to have some/all these documents at some time… whether it is a ration card, telephone bill, passport, driving licence, voter ID card, PAN card, UIN/MAPIN, and now the MIN.

It seems a far cry from the US, where a single number, the Social Security Number is enough to accomplish a variety of such tasks / opening of accounts etc. On the contrary, we seem to revel in creating more and more new ID’s with fancy sounding names, and it looks as if each authority wants to have it’s own unique form of identification, putting people to tremendous inconvenience.

Lastly, the data entry operators are simply pathetic ! There are so many mistakes in the name, surname, address and at times, even the gender. This happened on a very large scale when the voter ID cards were issued, and lately with the PAN cards being issued by UTIISL. There seem to be no quality checks at all. My mom decided to apply for a PAN card last year and received the card in July 2006, full of errors. The card was sent back, and another card was finally delivered after 6 months, that too with two of the earlier errors repeated. This is hardly a confidence boosting measure !
Sucheta Dalal has highlighted similar problems faced by people, which you can read here.

Tags: , ,

Related Posts: