Centre mandates e-KYC for ration cards every 5 years

The Centre on Wednesday amended the existing public distribution system norms making e-KYC (electronic-Know Your Customer) mandatory for holders of ration cards every five years.

An official notification of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said: “The Targeted Public Distribution System (Control) Amendment Order, 2025, makes significant changes to the PDS (Public Distribution System) to enhance transparency, prevent duplication, and improve targeting of subsidies.”

As per the new amendment, state governments must conduct a mandatory e-KYC process for all eligible households every five years. This review will involve deletion of ineligible households and inclusion of newly eligible families in the beneficiary list. The minimum age for separate ration cards has now been set at 18 years. The revised order says

no individual shall be eligible to hold a separate ration card before reaching the age of 18.

For children under five years of age, Aadhaar numbers should be collected where available, and e-KYC must be conducted within a year of them turning five. The order also directs temporary disabling of ration cards for inactivity.

“Ration cards of beneficiaries who have not availed of their entitlements in the past six months will be temporarily disabled. The state government is required to conduct field verification and complete e-KYC within three months to reassess eligibility and take further action,” the notification says.

Further, in cases where ration cards found to be duplicates either within the same state or across different states are temporarily disabled, beneficiaries will be given a three-month period to prove eligibility by submitting valid documents and completing e-KYC. The Centre said: “First-In-First-Out (FIFO) approach will be adopted for issuing new ration cards. States will be required to publish a real-time transparent waiting list on their public web portals, enabling applicants to track the status of their applications.”

The changes seek to weed out fraudulent beneficiaries and illegal ration card holders, said sources.

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