India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has enforced new rules for SIM cards from today (1 December 2023). The rules were announced on August 1 this year and were earlier claimed to be implemented from October 1. However, the process was delayed by 2 months and now finally the rules will come into effect from today.
With new SIM card rules, GOI aims to deal with fraud better and ensure the safety of Indian users. The new rules include E-KYC rules, Bulk issuing of SIM cards, and more. Read on to learn all the new rules.
New SIM Card Rules
ALSO READ: Nothing Phone (2) gets a Price Slash of Rs. 5000: Should you Buy it?
- New rules require more details about the person who is purchasing the SIM card to be collected. This would help the authorities track down the person associated with the SIM easily.
- Purchasing SIM cards for existing numbers will need Aadhaar and demographic data.
- E-KYC or digital KYC has been made mandatory for new SIM cards and for those looking to get a SIM of their existing number. No SIM cards will be issued with just a copy of your ID Proof.
- The person selling SIM cards will also have to go through verification. SIM dealers will now have to be verified and they will have to register the SIM cards they sell. In case, the new guidelines aren’t followed, SIM dealers can be fined up to Rs. 10,00,000.
- If you are an individual, you can get SIM cards in bulk only if you try to get it through a business connection. For normal users, the upper limit for SIM cards is 9 from one ID.
- If someone has gotten their SIM deactivated, it will not be allocated to another user for the next 90 days. Until that time, one can delete all the data associated with the number. This is an important move as nowadays a mobile number is connected to multiple services which can be used just with OTPs.
- If any SIM vendor is not registered by November 30, they will have to pay a fine of up to Rs. 10 lakh and there are chances of imprisonment too.
You can follow Smartprix on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Google News. Visit smartprix.com for the most recent news, reviews, and tech guides.
