On 30 April 2025, India's Supreme Court ruled that digital access is intrinsic to the Article 21 right to life, and directed the RBI to let blind and acid-attack-survivor customers pass e-KYC 'liveness' checks via thumb impression instead of the default eye-blink test.
Details
Maturity
Pilot
Promoter
Supreme Court of India / Reserve Bank of India
Period
April 2025 – ongoing
Keywords
governance, financial regulation, digital identity, disability rights, law
Context
On 30 April 2025, the Supreme Court of India ruled in Pragya Prasun & Ors. v. Union of India that the right to digital access is an intrinsic component of the fundamental right to life and liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution. The case was brought by acid-attack survivors with severe eye burns and a blind petitioner, who could not complete banks' digital e-KYC identity checks.
Activities
The Court found that the Reserve Bank of India's Master Directions on KYC prohibited any 'prompting' during digital verification and defaulted to an eye-blink 'liveness' test, leaving blind and visually disfigured users with no accommodation. The Court directed the RBI to issue revised guidelines permitting alternative liveness-verification methods, including accepting a thumb impression in place of the blink test.
Conclusions
As of the ruling, implementation was still under way: legal and regulatory advisory firms published detailed 'action point' guidance for banks and NBFCs on how to comply, indicating that consistent nationwide rollout across all regulated entities had not yet been independently verified.
Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — Compliance cost borne by banks/NBFCs updating verification systems; not disclosed.
Time to results
Short (< 1 year) — Ruling issued 30 April 2025; compliance guidance published shortly after.
Staffing & skills
Reserve Bank of India regulatory staff, bank and NBFC compliance teams
Conditions for success
a binding Supreme Court directive compelling regulatory action
an alternative liveness-verification method (thumb impression) specified as an accommodation
Common failure modes
nationwide rollout across all regulated entities not yet independently verified
Where it fits
Governance type
national judiciary + financial regulator
Scale
national
Income level
lower-middle income
Commonly funded by
National / regional programmes
Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.
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Claim it —
verified implementers get a public contact pathway and can propose corrections.
Data sources
Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.
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