Industry body Amfi on Tuesday said it has revived the online registration facility for obtaining fresh Amfi registration number (ARN) and employee unique identification number (EUIN) for mutual fund distributors.

The online registration facility comes as a great boon and relief to new applicants seeking fresh ARN and EUIN in the current lockdown situation in many parts of India in the wake of resurgence of Covid-19 pandemic, Amfi said in a statement.

The Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) has restarted a completely paperless online registration process through its website for obtaining ARN and EUIN using One Time Pin (OTP) based Aadhaar authentication.

"At Amfi, we look at technology as an enabler that can help ease the process and reduce time spent by distributors or their employees on mundane tasks, so that they can better utilize their time on helping their clients. We urge all our distribution fraternity to take benefit of this feature," Amfi Chief Executive NS Venkatesh said.

In 2017, the industry body introduced a completely online facility for applying for ARN/EUIN using Aadhaar, as well as for ARN and EUIN renewal. However, the online registration facility for fresh ARN using Aadhaar had to be withdrawn pursuant to Supreme Court order in September 2018, on the usage of Aadhaar.

With UIDAI now allowing Aadhaar-based authentication service as well e-KYC , using OTP that can be availed by requesting entities, Amfi has been able to revive the online ARN and EUIN registration, making it possible to register ARN/EUIN online from the safety and comfort of one's home or office, without having to step-out in these difficult times.

The Aadhar-linked OTP-based online ARN and EUIN registration process is simple and convenient and can be completed in a matter of a few minutes and with a few clicks, the industry body said.

The industry body has already enabled online renewal of ARN and EUIN facilities on its website and the same is working efficiently since the last four years. It has now added new features like change of email ID and change of mobile number to the online module.

Amfi was incorporated in August 1995, as a non-profit organisation and as of now, all the 44 asset management companies that are registered with markets regulator Sebi, are its members.