Brokers Forum awaits BSE's call on Aadhaar for market transactions

Mumbai: The BSE Brokers Forum on Thursday said it will await direction from the stock exchange on mandatory implementation of Aadhaar for capital market transactions.

The reaction comes following the Supreme Court's landmark ruling on Thursday that privacy is a fundamental right under the Constitution. The ruling was given on a batch of petitions challenging the Centre's move to make Aadhaar mandatory for availing the benefits of various social welfare schemes.

The petitions also argued that Aadhaar, when used by commercial organisations, is a breach of privacy. "In 2004, when PAN card was made mandatory for every transaction, we, as brokers, had to comply with it and the same applied when Aadhaar was linked to avoid violation of regulatory norms. Following today's judgement on right to privacy, we await direction from the exchange and till then, we will have to comply with it," BSE Brokers Forum spokesperson Kamlesh Shroff said in a statement.