Change Registered Mobile Number: Aadhaar, Bank & Loan Claims
To change a registered mobile number, you normally have to prove you are the person the record belongs to. When that person has died, you have to prove you stand in their place instead. Those are two different problems, with two different queues, two different sets of forms, and at a bank counter, usually two different sets of staff. Most of the trouble people run into comes from treating them as one.
A SIM card in a drawer. That is where this usually starts. The connection lapsed because nobody recharged it, or the handset is locked and nobody knows the pattern. The bank's record still lists that number as the registered contact. Every step of the claim — the acknowledgement, the balance confirmation, the one-time password — routes back to it.
The post we are working from is short on detail. It does not say how long ago the death was, which bank is involved, or whether a nominee was ever named on the account. It does not say what the branch said in writing, if anything. We have one side of the story and a set of symptoms, and the law has to be described honestly around those gaps rather than over them.
Key facts at a glance
- The registered mobile number is an authentication device, not a contact field. It is how the institution confirms identity before it moves money or records.
- Almost every online update — Aadhaar, net banking, UPI re-registration — requires an OTP to the existing number. That is the whole problem in one sentence.
- There is no process anywhere in Indian banking or in the Aadhaar system by which a registered mobile number can be inherited.
- What actually happens after a death is that the account is converted, transferred or closed as a deceased claim, and the contact details are updated as part of that, not before it.
- Operating a dead person's account using their number or their Aadhaar is an offence, however good the intention.
- Whether you need a succession certificate depends on the amount, whether there is a nominee, and the bank's own board-approved policy.
Why the registered mobile number carries so much weight
Banks moved from signature-based authentication to something closer to possession-based authentication. You hold the number, therefore you are the customer. It works well until possession and identity separate — and death, a lost handset, a number given up years ago, or a SIM-swap fraud all separate them.
Once they separate, the institution has no fallback that a counter clerk can apply without risk. So the default answer is no. The work of the article that follows is in getting past that default.
How to change the registered mobile number on Aadhaar
Aadhaar is the simpler of the two, and it has one hard rule: the Aadhaar number itself never changes. Only the mobile number linked to it does.
If you still have the SIM. Go to the UIDAI self-service portal, log in with your Aadhaar number and the OTP sent to the registered number, and update it there. No branch, no queue.
If you do not have the SIM. The online route is closed to you by design. Book a slot at an Aadhaar Seva Kendra or an authorised enrolment centre and do a demographic update in person. You will need biometric authentication — that means the person whose Aadhaar it is has to be present. This is the part that cannot be worked around when the Aadhaar holder is dead, and no amount of documentation changes it. There is a small prescribed fee, and the UIDAI site carries the current slab; check before you travel.
Can I change a registered mobile number without the old SIM?
On a bank account, yes — but only at the branch, and only with a full KYC re-verification. There is no other honest answer.
On a bank account held by a living person
Walk in with the account number, an identity proof, an address proof, and a written request signed in front of the officer. Expect one of three things. Some banks will accept an ATM card plus the ATM PIN as an alternative authentication. Some will allow it through net banking if you can log in. Many will simply take the form and process it in a day or two, with the new number activated after a cooling-off period.
Two practical points. First, ask for the acknowledgement copy — the stamped duplicate of the request form. Second, after the change, the new number has to be seeded for the account, not just saved as a contact; those are different things and UPI will keep failing until the seeding is done.
On a loan account
Same branch process, different desk. A loan account's registered number is usually held by the loan servicing team, and the request has to go to them. If the loan is being repaid by standing instruction or auto-debit, change the mandate along with the number, otherwise the debit will fail on the new contact details and you will be charged for it.
If the number was hijacked rather than simply lost
A fraudulent SIM swap — where someone obtains a duplicate SIM in your name and takes over the number — is a criminal matter, not a customer service matter. Report it to the police and on the national cybercrime portal, and ask the bank in writing to freeze the account and stop all OTP-based activity in the interim. The relevant provisions include identity theft and cheating by personation using a computer resource under the Information Technology Act, 2000, and cheating and personation under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. Do not wait for the bank to finish its internal inquiry before filing. The two can run together.
When the account holder has died
This is the part most people get wrong, and it is worth being blunt about it. The bank cannot change a dead person's registered mobile number to yours, because that would mean handing you the keys to an account you have not yet proved a right to. So it refuses, and the refusal reads like obstruction. It is not. It is the bank waiting for a different process to finish.
The correct sequence is the reverse of what feels natural. Settle the claim first. The contact details get updated as a by-product of the transfer, closure or conversion.
Nominee first, legal heirs second
If a valid nomination exists in the account, the nominee can usually receive the money without producing a succession certificate or other legal representation. This is the single most useful fact in this article, and it is also the one most often discovered too late. Nominations to deposits have been amended in recent years to permit more than one nominee on an account, and where several nominees are recorded, the bank's own policy governs how the amount is divided.
Where there is no nomination, the branch moves to legal heirs,
Where there is no nomination, the branch moves to legal heirs, and from that point the paperwork decides the timeline. Nobody at the counter has discretion to speed it up. What they hand you is a deceased claim form and a list of annexures, and that list varies — between banks, and sometimes between two branches of the same bank in the same city. Ask for the list in writing on day one and work down it.
What the branch will ask for
- The death certificate. Register the death first. Nothing moves without it, and a photocopy will not do at most branches.
- The bank's death claim form, signed by every person named as a claimant.
- A family or dependant declaration in the bank's own format, listing all legal heirs and stating whether any of them objects. Some banks want this on stamp paper, some notarised, some neither.
- Identity and address proof of each claimant.
- The original will, if there is one, or a probated copy.
- A succession certificate or other legal representation, if the amount crosses the bank's simplification limit.
Get every signature on the form in one sitting if you can. A form that returns to the branch three times for one missing signature costs a month each time.
Which heirs, and by what law
If there is no will, who is entitled depends on the personal law that applies to the deceased. For Hindus, the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 sets out a list of Class I heirs who take simultaneously and to the exclusion of others. For those governed by the Indian Succession Act, 1925, the scheme is different. This is not a detail to gloss over, because a bank acting on the wrong declaration can be held liable, and that is precisely why it asks for a declaration listing everyone.
Smaller balances: the simplified route
For smaller balances, the Reserve Bank has required banks to settle deceased claims without insisting on a succession certificate, probate or letters of administration. The threshold has been revised upward more than once. Do not rely on a figure you read online — ask the branch what number they are applying this month, and ask for it in writing.
In the simplified route, the bank leans on a declaration and an indemnity bond instead of a court order. Signing an indemnity is not a formality. You are personally undertaking to make good the loss if another claimant turns up later and the bank pays twice. Read it before you sign.
Above the threshold: a succession certificate
A succession certificate is a court order recognising who is entitled to the movable assets of a person who died intestate. It is granted under the Indian Succession Act, 1925, and the petition is filed before the District Judge in whose jurisdiction the deceased ordinarily lived. Section 372 of that Act sets out what the petition must contain. The court issues notice to the other heirs, and if nobody objects, grants the certificate.
It covers deposits, shares, securities and similar movable property. It does not cover immovable property. For land or a flat, the remedy is a different suit, usually for partition or a declaration of title, and that is a separate exercise with its own timeline.
If there is a will, the route is probate or letters of administration instead. Whether probate is mandatory depends on the religion of the deceased and on where the will was executed — there is no single answer that fits everyone, and it is worth checking the position for your facts before you assume you can skip the court.
When the deceased was the borrower, not the depositor
The sequence flips. A loan does not die with the borrower, but the liability of legal heirs is generally confined to the value of what they actually inherit. Two exceptions matter in practice. If there is a co-borrower or a guarantor, the bank will pursue them first, and they can be made to pay the whole amount regardless of what the heirs inherited. And if the loan is secured by a mortgage, the bank can enforce the security.
Two things follow. First, write to the bank early, because a stalled secured loan moves towards auction notices faster than a deposit claim moves towards payment. Second, if the loan carried credit shield or home loan insurance, that is a separate claim on the insurer, filed in parallel, not afterwards.
Should I keep the old SIM active?
Depends on who we are talking about, and the two answers are almost opposite.
If the number is your own. Keep the SIM alive until the new number is seeded everywhere — bank, UPI, Aadhaar, income tax portal, mutual funds. Do not surrender the old connection the day the new one is activated. Seeding is not the same as saving a contact. People discover this when the UPI handle fails at a petrol pump.
If it belonged to the deceased. Do not use it. The account freezes on death, and no one — heir, nominee or executor — has authority to operate it until the claim is settled. Logging in with the deceased's phone to "just check the balance" or to move money is unauthorised access, whatever the intention, and it exposes you to both civil liability and criminal provisions under the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. If a bank official suggests it as a shortcut, get that suggestion in writing before you do anything.
There is a third situation, and it is nastier. Telecom operators recycle dormant numbers. If the connection lapsed and the number has since been allotted to a stranger, that stranger is now receiving the one-time passwords for the deceased's account. Ask the bank in writing to suspend all OTP-enabled transactions until the claim is decided. Most branches will do this once the request is on paper.
Where the claim gets stuck
Three places, usually.
- The verbal no. The branch says "court order needed" without saying why. Ask them to put the refusal in writing or by email. That single request changes the temperature of most conversations.
- The endless list. Every visit produces one more document. Send a written list of what you have submitted, with dates, and ask what remains.
- The threshold dispute. The bank applies a limit that no longer matches the current circular. Ask for the circular reference.
If the branch will not move, the escalation ladder runs through the branch manager, then the bank's nodal officer, then the Reserve Bank's Integrated Ombudsman Scheme, 2021. That last route is free and online. Be clear about what the ombudsman can and cannot do: it decides complaints about deficiency in service, not disputes about who inherits what. A succession dispute belongs in a civil court, not there.
Aadhaar of a person who has died
There is no inheritance of an Aadhaar number. It cannot be transferred, updated on behalf of the holder, or used by anyone else as their own identity. Once the death is registered, the Aadhaar record is eventually deactivated. Birth and death registration feeds into the system over time, and it is not instantaneous, so a live-looking record may still show up in a database for a while. That is a data lag, not a permission.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can the bank change the registered mobile number to mine after the account holder dies?
No, and not because the staff are being difficult. The number is the authentication key to the account. Handing it to you before the claim is decided would mean giving you control of money you have not yet established a right to. The number gets updated as part of the transfer, conversion or closure, not before it.
Can I change a registered mobile number without the old SIM on my own account?
Yes, at the branch, with full KYC re-verification. Some banks accept an ATM card and PIN as an alternative; some process it through net banking; most take a written request and activate the new number after a cooling-off period. Ask for the stamped acknowledgement.
Is a succession certificate always needed?
No. If there is a valid nomination, the nominee can usually receive the money without it. If the balance is within the bank's simplified-settlement limit, a declaration and indemnity will do. Above the limit and with no nominee, the bank will generally insist on a court order.
How long does the whole thing take?
A nominated claim with all papers: weeks. A simplified deceased claim: a month or two, depending on the branch. A succession certificate: several months at minimum, and longer if an heir objects or the court is backed up. Anyone promising you a fixed date is guessing.
What if one legal heir refuses to sign the declaration?
Then the bank cannot act on a clean declaration and the matter moves to court. A private settlement between heirs does not bind the bank unless the court records it or a proper document is produced. Sort it out before you start the claim, not halfway through it.
What happens if the number has already been given to someone else?
Tell the bank in writing immediately and ask for OTP-based transactions to be stopped. If money has already moved, that is a police complaint and a complaint on the national cybercrime portal, alongside the claim. Do both. Neither waits for the other.
What to send us
If you are dealing with a bank or a telecom operator that has refused to act, or if there is a dispute among heirs about who is entitled, write to us with the essentials and nothing more: the death certificate, the bank's written response or refusal if you have one, the account or loan reference number, and a short note of two or three lines setting out what has happened and what you want done. If the matter involves a family dispute running alongside the claim — a will being challenged, a partition among heirs — mention it, because the two proceedings affect each other.
Some cases are straightforward: a nomination exists, the papers are complete, and the branch is simply slow. On those, there may be nothing to argue, and a well-drafted written representation to the nodal officer will often do what a lawyer's notice would. We will tell you if that is the honest answer.
You can send the documents through the contact page or book a consultation directly. Advocate Sudhir Rao practises criminal defence, cyber crime and economic offences at the Supreme Court of India — Lawyers' Chamber, Chamber No. 86, New Delhi 110001, on +91 97295 06771 or me@sudhirrao.com. For family and matrimonial matters connected to a succession dispute, Adv. Jyoti Rao is an associate at the same chamber.
This article is general information about Indian law and is not legal advice on your own situation. Facts differ, and so do the answers.
Advocate Sudhir Rao, Supreme Court of India