Aadhaar: Dynamics of Digital Identity

1. Introduction

Traditionally, residents of India have lacked a nationally acceptable unique identity,

and they have been using proxy identities such as Driving License, PAN cards,
EPIC voter cards, Ration cards and Passport, etc., to prove their identity and
address. The lack of easily verifiable identity has led to exclusion of genuine
beneficiaries on one hand and inclusion of duplicates and fake entries in various
beneficiary databases on the other.

This issue has been a matter of concern for the government as the absence of unique
identification of residents has resulted in privation and annoyance for the poor and
marginalized sections of society as a result of social and financial exclusion.
Moreover, leakages in the delivery system cost huge amount to State Exchequer
with less-than-due deliveries to genuine beneficiaries, and unscrupulous elements
siphoning off the benefits that are meant to be delivered to the genuine beneficiaries
adversely impacting the limited resources of the Government.

To mitigate such challenges and to improve inclusion1 including financial inclusion,

Government of India in 2009 launched the Aadhaar programme with a vision “to
empower residents of India with
a unique identity and a digital
Aadhaar is for all the residents in India. platform to authenticate anytime,
First UID was issued on September 2010. anywhere”. Aadhaar - a Unique
Since then, Aadhaar is closing towards Identification number (UID) will
universal enrolment. be issued to all residents in
India, wherein the first UID
number was issued in September 2010, and is expected to cover all the residents in
the coming months.

Aadhaar is a strategic policy tool for social and financial inclusion, public sector
delivery reforms, for managing fiscal budgets, increase convenience and promote
hassle-free people-centric governance. The Aadhaar identity platform is one of the
key pillars of the ‘Digital India’ movement, where it will provide unique identity to
every resident of the country. The Aadhaar programme has already achieved several
milestones and is by far the world’s largest such biometrics based identification
system.

As per the mandate, Aadhaar is issued by Unique Identification Authority of India

(UIDAI) which was created by the Government of India in the year 2009 as an

1
http://www.uidai.gov.in/images/commdoc/other_doc/concept_paper_social_inclusion.pdf
 Aadhaar: Dynamics of Digital Identity

attached office of the then Planning Commission (now NITI Aayog). Later on 12th
September 2015, UIDAI has been attached to the Department of Electronics &
Information Technology (DeitY), Ministry of Communications and Information
Technology.

Further in March 2016, to provide Aadhaar a statutory legal structure, the

Government of India brought in The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial
and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016, (“Aadhaar Act”) under
which the Unique Identification Authority of India has been established on 12th July
2016. The Aadhaar Act provides for having Aadhaar as the identifier for targeted
delivery of Government benefits, subsidies and services. The Act has incorporated
stringent measures to protect the confidentiality/privacy of residents’ data collected,
stored and shared. Whilst the delivery of benefits, subsidies and services is now its
primary focus, the Act provides for an enabling and effective digital, verifiable,
infrastructural framework for such delivery hassle-free along with people’s
empowerment.

2. About Aadhaar

Any individual, irrespective of age and gender, who is a resident in India and
satisfies the verification process 2
laid down by the UIDAI, can
Aadhaar is a 12-digit Unique Number enroll for Aadhaar on a voluntary
and its UNIQUENESS is derived through basis. An individual needs to
the process of biometric de- enroll only once; the process is
duplication. free of cost. In case, the resident
enrolls more than once, ONLY
ONE Aadhaar shall be generated, as the Uniqueness is achieved through the
process of biometric de-duplication. Aadhaar is a 12-digit random number 3 and
does not contain any intelligence or profiling data. It is an identity document and is
not usable as a proof of citizenship, nor does it confer rights, benefits or
entitlements.

In line with the vision of

UIDAI, “to provide digital
platform to authenticate
anytime, anywhere”,
UIDAI provides an
Authentication service
wherein Aadhaar number,
along with other attributes
(demographic/

2
http://www.uidai.gov.in/images/mou/resident_enrolment_process_ver_2.2.1.pdf
3
http://www.uidai.gov.in/images/uid_numbering_scheme_1.pdf
2
 Aadhaar: Dynamics of Digital Identity

biometrics/OTP) is submitted to UIDAI's Central Identities Data Repository

(CIDR) for verification; the CIDR verifies whether the data submitted matches the
data available in CIDR and responds with a “Yes/No”. No other details such as
name, gender, address are given out in the process of authentication.

3. Aadhaar Ecosystem

In past, multiple departments have issued specific domain identities, where demand
of such identities was either limited to a geography or a domain. However, for the
Aadhaar program, the scenario was
unique, as the demand for Aadhaar was
UIDAI has created multiple neither restricted to a domain, nor a
ecosystems to cater to the geography. In fact, a 12-digit unique
growing need of Aadhaar and its identity was to be issued to all residents
services. in India 4 . Therefore, to ensure high
throughput, inclusion and 24x7x365
availability of services, it was
imperative that UIDAI adopted an approach where minimalistic data was captured,
but was sufficient to be recognized as a valid identity and address document by
governments and regulators; architecture was scalable and coupled with data
security and privacy. In order to achieve this, UIDAI has created multiple eco-
systems catering to the above needs:
1. Enrolment Ecosystem
2. Authentication Ecosystem

3.1. Enrolment Ecosystem

The Enrolment ecosystem consists of
Registrars appointed by the UIDAI,
who in turn appoint Enrolment
Agencies, who in turn appoint
certified operators. In co-ordination
with the Registrars, the Enrolment
Agencies set up Enrolment Centres, Fig. 1: UIDAI’s Enrolment Ecosystem
where residents can enroll for
Aadhaar.

As recommended by the Demographic

Data Standards and Verification
Procedures Committee (DDSVP), the
UIDAI collects only the basic
information on the residents and seeks
only Name, Date of birth, Gender,
Father's/ Husband's/Guardian's name
Fig. 2: Attributes captured during enrolment
4
https://uidai.gov.in/images/uidai_strategy_overview_04022016.pdf
3
 Aadhaar: Dynamics of Digital Identity

and UID number (optional for adult residents), Mother's/ Wife's/ Guardian's name
and UID number (optional for adult residents), Introducer's name and UID number
(in case of lack of documents), Address and all ten fingerprints, photograph and
both iris scans.

The entire data (biometric as well as

Aadhaar is issued to all residents
demographic) is secured within the
including infants and newborns.
UIDAI’s Central Identities Data
Repository (CIDR) located within
India and fully managed by UIDAI. The CIDR is located in spatially distributed
data centres within India which are secured physically and logically using best in
class security tools and practices and monitored 24x7x365. Raw biometric data is
always stored in encrypted form even within CIDR to ensure that any unauthorized
data access is not possible at any stage, in any manner. Enrolment data packets
(individual electronic file containing resident demographics and biometrics) are
strongly encrypted by the Enrolment Client software at the time of enrolment even
before saving any data to any hard disk. Encryption uses highest available public
key cryptography encryption (PKI-2048 and AES-256) with each data record
having a built-in mechanism to detect any tampering.

Aadhaar is an identity
document which portable and
An individual can update his/her details
authenticable online in real
through Self-Service Portal or by visiting
time anywhere anytime and
Permanent Enrolment Centre or by
can be used across India to
applying for update through Post.
prove one’s identity and
address. In this context, it
becomes imperative that residents continuously update their address and/or
demographic information. For this very purpose, UIDAI has devised channels to
Update 5 Demographics data like Name, Address, Gender, Date of Birth, e-mail,
Phone Number, etc. and Biometrics like Photograph, Fingerprints and Iris at a
Permanent Enrolment Centre (PEC).

Aadhaar system collects NO

other information such as
Success of biometric projects depends on
religion, caste, economic
the quality of data collected at the time of
status, bank account details,
enrolment.
etc. about residents; has no
linkage to any other systems
such as PAN, Passport, Driver’s License, etc; and has no data about any day-to-day
transactions of individuals such as banking transactions, travel, hospital visits, etc.

Any biometric identity project success primarily depends on the ‘Quality’ of the
data collected at the time of enrolment. Aadhaar enrolment data quality depends on
5
http://www.uidai.gov.in/images/mou/uidai_data_update_policy_ver_2.3.1.pdf
4
 Aadhaar: Dynamics of Digital Identity

(1) Software 6 (Enrolment Client) and Hardware (Camera, Biometric & Iris
scanner), (2) Manpower. Realizing the importance of maintaining high quality
standards, UIDAI has developed custom enrolment client software which measures
the quality of data at the time of enrolment. In case, the quality of the captured data
is not at expected levels, the
operator is asked to re-capture
the required data. Enrolment Aadhaar Authentication platform is
software provided for field Scalable and Ubiquitous in nature. ‘Yes’
work ensures that ONLY or ‘No’ is sent in response to an
approved and authentic authentication request.
operators can sign-in to the
enrolment software system to perform enrolment. Every enrolment record is
biometrically signed by operator ensuring traceability and non-repudiation. It is
equally important that people who are responsible for capturing data are adequately
trained and certified. UIDAI has worked diligently to create a Training, Testing and
Certification standards 7 . Additionally, UIDAI has partnered with the
Standardization Testing and Quality Certification (SQTC) to certify the hardware
devices which will be connected to the client to undertake enrolment.

In summary, Aadhaar enrolment ecosystem works on a hybrid model, where

Aadhaar enrolment is fashioned on a decentralized model, but Aadhaar generation
is centralized. Since Aadhaar is advancing towards universal enrolment, the
enrolment architecture is designed to be highly scalable with standardized
processes, software, devices and manpower.

3.2. Authentication Ecosystem

Power of Aadhaar lies in the fact that Aadhaar platform offers an on-line, real-time
authentication service, where the purpose is to enable residents to prove their
identity and for service providers to
confirm that residents are ‘who they
say they are' in order to supply
services and give access to benefits.
The UIDAI offers a strong form of
online authentication “anywhere,
anytime” and envisions a balance
between 'privacy and purpose' on
the information collected on
residents. Fig. 3: Authentication Modalities
Either during enrolment or during
authentication, Aadhaar system DOES NOT collect, store, link to any other

6
http://www.uidai.gov.in/images/AadhaarTechnologyArchitecture_March2014.pdf
7
http://www.uidai.gov.in/images/resource/H1%20Training%20&%20Certification%20Process%20-
%20Ver%201.pdf
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 Aadhaar: Dynamics of Digital Identity

personal data (other than described above) and hence designed specifically to
protect privacy. No agency has access to the information in the UID database. Also,
the UIDAI answers requests to authenticate identity only through a 'Yes' or 'No'
response. No personal identity information is returned as part of the response. The
Aadhaar authentication ecosystem 8 is capable of handling tens of millions of
authentications on a daily basis, and can be scaled up further as per the demand. As
per the defined Authentication Operating Model 9 , the UIDAI has appointed a
number of Authentication Service Agencies (ASAs), who in turn are appointing
various Government and non-Government organizations as Authentication User
Agencies (AUAs).

Like Aadhaar enrolments, to ensure high success rate in the area of authentication,
UIDAI has partnered with STQC10 and defined technical standards and guidelines
for certification for biometric
devices to be used at the time
e-KYC is an application of Authentication authentication. Aadhaar
Platform, where demographic data of the
Authentication service is built to
resident is shared only after his/her explicit
handle up to 100 million
consent.
authentication requests a day
across two data centers in an
active-active fashion and is benchmarked to provide sub-second response time. The
UID architecture is designed on an on-line system – data is stored centrally and
authentication is done online and is compliant with the IT Act 2000. This is a
forward-leaning approach that makes it possible to avoid the problems associated
with many ID card schemes. UIDAI supports the following authentication
modalities:
1. Fingerprint-based authentication
2. Iris-based authentication Jan-Dhan
Bank A/Cs
3. One-time Password based
authentication
EPFO PDS

In May 2013, UIDAI launched

Electronic Know Your Customer e-KYC
(e-KYC) service, which essentially
is an application of the Aadhaar LPG MGNREGA
authentication platform. The e-
KYC service leverages the
NSAP
authentication ecosystem, wherein
it enables individuals to authorize
service providers to receive
electronic copy of their proof of identity and address. This is a first of its kind
service, on any public platform. The service makes KYC instantaneous, totally

8
http://www.uidai.gov.in/images/authentication/d2_authentication_framework_v1.pdf
9
http://www.uidai.gov.in/images/authentication/d3_1_operating_model_v1.pdf
10
http://www.stqc.gov.in/content/bio-metric-devices-testing-and-certification
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 Aadhaar: Dynamics of Digital Identity

secure and paperless while enhancing privacy of data. It brings business efficiency
and opens doors to innovative service provision in a manner never experienced
before on a comparable scale. The e-KYC service can be deployed by different
agencies to verify a resident’s identity and address. Only demographic information
(Name, Address, Date of Birth, Gender, Photograph, Mobile Number & e-mail) that
is collected during Aadhaar enrolment will be shared, at the request of, and/or with
the consent of the Aadhaar number holder. This makes the KYC process quick and
easy for the customer and saves the service provider from manually verifying
multiple documents thus reducing the cost of customer acquisition.

4. Aadhaar-enabled Products

Aadhaar is unique 12-digit number and does not change over the lifecycle of an
individual. One major opportunity that Aadhaar brings to the forefront is the
possibility of Aadhaar to be used as ‘Financial Address’.

UIDAI in partnership with National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) has

developed two products which will benefit both public and private entities in
delivering benefits and services to the end consumer/beneficiary.

Aadhaar Payment Bridge System (APBS) is designed to obviate the need for
collecting Account Number along with other institutional details from transferring
benefits directly into an individual’s account. Today, in order to transfer money to a
beneficiary, the Governments/ Institutions is required to maintain records of the
bank account, IFSC Code, and bank branch details etc. which is prone to change.
However, Aadhaar offers the
possibility of sending money by
just using the 12-digit number UIDAI and NPCI have collaborated to build
Aadhaar-enabled platforms for the financial
for life without bothering about
sector. Aadhaar Payment Bridge (APB)
any changes in the bank account
enables Aadhaar to act as a Financial
of the individuals. APB Address by way of linking the Aadhaar with
implementation helps deal with respective bank account.
aforementioned challenges with
benefits to both stakeholders as
described below:

Benefits to Residents

 Aadhaar is a Universal and Portable Identity;

 Resident need not carry multiple identities if he/she has Aadhaar;
 Enables online authentication anywhere at any time;
 Provides basic government ID which will lead to inclusion and empowerment of an
individual;
 Convenience on account of Aadhaar translating as financial address;
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 Aadhaar: Dynamics of Digital Identity

 With a large migrant

population, Aadhaar ID
being valid throughout
the country ensures that
such population are not
excluded because of lack
of ID;
Data Digitization and Aadhaar Linking are the two
most crucial pre-requisites to Aadhaar-enabled
Service Application. Once completed, the real
benefit of Aadhaar will be realized in the form of De-
Duplication and Targeted Welfare Delivery.

The Government
payments are being credited directly into the accounts of the targeted Beneficiaries
using APB platform. However, access to these funds encounters a number of last
mile servicing issues. Like the APB system, UIDAI has partnered with NPCI to
build Aadhaar enabled Payments System 11 (AePS), which leverages the Aadhaar
authentication services and facilitates basic banking access (viz. cash withdrawal,
cash deposit, balance enquiry, fund transfers) to the beneficiaries in a hassle free
manner at/ near the doorsteps. Further, usage of Aadhaar authentication enables
transactions in real time in an interoperable environment.

Benefits to Government

 Targeted delivery of benefits to the intended beneficiary.

 Delivery of benefits a transparent and accountable manner with audit trail.
 Empowerment to people by way of Inclusion.
 Improved productivity of delivery channels.
 Potentially change the course from Cash-Intensive country to Cash-lite economy.

5. Aadhaar-enabled Service Delivery

Governments in India funds a number of social welfare schemes focused towards

the poor and most vulnerable sections of society. Most of these schemes suffer from
administrative inefficiencies in their implementation. Aadhaar and its platform offer
a unique opportunity to the government to streamline their welfare delivery.

In order to leverage Aadhaar identity platform, it is important that beneficiary data

is digitized and respective Aadhaar is linked with the beneficiary in the program
database. Aadhaar linking or seeding12 is a process by which Aadhaar numbers of
residents are included in the service delivery database of service providers for
enabling de-duplication of database and Aadhaar based authentication during
service delivery. The objective of de-duplication is not to replace the currently used
unique identifier of the customers/ residents/ beneficiaries with Aadhaar but it is to

11
https://uidai.gov.in/images/commdoc/discussionpaperonAadhaarbasedfinancialinclusion15oct.pdf
12
https://uidai.gov.in/images/Aadhaar_Seeding_July_2016_v1.2_08072016.pdf
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 Aadhaar: Dynamics of Digital Identity

clean up the databases for any ghosts / duplicate entries and seamlessly enable
Aadhaar authentication without impacting any other interface that the service
providers maintain with their customers.

Additionally, the program databases should leverage the Aadhaar authentication

ecosystem, which will enable implementing agencies to verify beneficiaries and
ensure targeted delivery of benefits. All these activities will lead to:
1. Curbing Leakages through targeted delivery: Welfare programs where beneficiaries
need to be confirmed before the service delivery, also, stand to benefit from
UIDAI’s verification services by curbing leakages. Examples of such usages
include subsidized food and kerosene delivery to Public Distribution System (PDS)
beneficiaries, worksite attendance of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) beneficiaries, etc. This usage would ensure that
services are delivered to the right beneficiaries only. For instance, Fig. 4 is an
illustration on the use of Aadhaar which combines the process of de-duplication and
Aadhaar authentication platform in curbing leakages in Public Distribution System:

Fig. 4: Illustration on Power of Aadhaar

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 Aadhaar: Dynamics of Digital Identity

2. Improving Efficiency & Efficacy: With Aadhaar platforms providing greater

information visibility up to the last mile, governments can improve disbursement
systems and utilize scarce development funds more effectively and efficiently.

3. Performance Improvement of Administrative Staff: Departments employ a large

network of intermediaries to deliver payments/ services to the widely dispersed
poor or backward population. The governments are required to monitor their
performance to ensure adherence to tasks. Aadhaar verification platforms have a
key application to monitor attendance, etc.

4. 360O View of Beneficiaries: Poor and rural populations utilize a number of

government services and schemes across sectors such as NSAP/Pensions (old age,
widow, and disability), Livelihood (MGNREGS), Basic amenities under PDS (food
grains, kerosene), Fuel (DBTL-PAHAL), Benefits (EPFO) and Financial inclusion
(PMJDY) amongst others. However, each of these departments operates
independently and has department-specific databases. With Aadhaar enablement,
governments can gain a unified view thereby allowing targeting of scheme benefits
more effectively.

6. Aadhaar Lifecycle – Cradle to Grave

Aadhaar is an essential tool to advance human development. While the potential of

AADHAR is practically restricted only by imagination, a few key opportunities that

Fig.5: Across different stages of a beneficiary’s life cycle

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 Aadhaar: Dynamics of Digital Identity

lie in the offing for advancing human development for a government include
improving wellbeing and reducing poverty. That such developments are being
rapidly adopted by multiple states in various capacities is testimony to the fact that
Aadhaar has been able to enable a more equitable distribution of development
benefits along with better living environment, thereby bringing about significant
benefits for the government machinery. Ministries and Departments have fixed
budgets allocated towards disbursement of welfare benefits for the marginalized
and the poor sections of the society. One of the persistent challenges for the
governments is to accurately identify these beneficiaries across the different stages
of their life cycle. Aadhaar helps in significantly mitigating such challenges.

7. Aadhaar – A Cost Benefit

Analysis Aadhaar is a real game changer for both
Government and Private Institution.
Governments can leverage Aadhaar to
A Cost-Benefit Analysis of monitor growth of an individual right from
Aadhaar 13 was undertaken by birth to death.
National Institute of Public
Four-Value Proposition of Aadhaar
Finance and Policy, where the
provides immense opportunities for
study finds, “that substantial
Private Institutions to develop different
benefits would accrue to the Use Cases.
government by integrating
Aadhaar with schemes such as
PDS, MGNREGS, fertilizer and
LPG subsidies, as well as housing, education and health programmes. The benefits
arise from the reduction in leakages that occur due to identification and
authentication issues. Our analysis takes into account the costs of developing and
maintaining Aadhaar, and of integrating Aadhaar with the schemes over the next
ten years. Even after taking all costs into account, and making modest assumptions
about leakages, of about 7-12 percent of the value of the transfer/subsidy, we find
that the Aadhaar project would yield an internal rate of return in real terms of
52.85 percent to the government”.

8. Aadhaar-enabled Initiatives

AePS/e-KYC - Use of Aadhaar authentication for providing banking services

(Launched in December’12) – AePS (Aadhaar enabled Payments System) is used
to provide basic banking services to the residents at the doorstep/ far flung areas
where banks do not have branches. Using Aadhaar Authentication and e-KYC
(Electronic Know Your Customer), Bank Mitrs carrying MicroATM can open bank
account and provide deposit, withdrawal, fund transfer, balance enquiry etc.,
anywhere in the country in an online manner. MicroATMs work on GPRS system.
AEPS was launched on December, 2012 with 5 banks and currently 112 banks are

13
http://planningcommission.nic.in/reports/genrep/rep_uid_cba_paper.pdf
11
 Aadhaar: Dynamics of Digital Identity

active on this service undertaking more than 2 crore transactions per month through
1.16 lakh devices across the country.

Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) using Aadhaar – Based on the APB (Aadhaar
Payment Bridge) and the property of ‘uniqueness’ of Aadhaar, DBT is by far the
largest and most impactful of all the applications launched so far, which was
initiated in the year 2013. As on 30th July 2016, more than 120 crore transactions
have been carried out covering various major schemes such as PAHAL, MNREGS
and Pensions etc. Currently, there are about 74 different schemes which are covered
under the DBT program.

Aadhaar and Rural Employment Scheme (MGNREGS) – One of the major

challenges encountered by the state governments and central ministry is in timely
payments to daily wage workers and one of the primary reasons for such delays is
manual payments. Therefore, One of the priorities of Ministry of Rural
Development (MoRD) is enabling direct transfer of payments to bank/ post office
accounts of beneficiaries electronically resulting in reduction in delays in crediting
the bank/post office accounts of the workers and hence the delays in payment of
wages.

To address this need of direct transfer of wages to worker’s account by electronic

means, and to end the role of middlemen in payment, an electronic Fund
Management System (eFMS) has been developed. The eFMS system has been
integrated with Aadhaar Payment Bridge and across India a large number of
workers Aadhaar has been linked with their respective NREGS Job Card No are
receiving payments directly into their bank account.

Additionally, in order to ensure that beneficiary indeed receives the payments and
not a middleman, ministry is in the process of leveraging Aadhaar-enabled
Payments System (AEPS) 14 , so that beneficiaries can undertake banking and
financial transactions at their doorstep.

Direct Benefits Transfer for LPG (DBTL, PAHAL) - LPG being an essential
commodity, its supply and distribution has been regulated by various regulations to
control the trade and illegal diversion. However, the prevention of such activities
has at best been minimal, primarily due to the large scale of the LPG supply chain.
Further, Government of India has been subsidizing to shield its vulnerable
consumers from the high and volatile international fuel prices through budgetary
support and upstream subsidy sharing mechanism. The only way to prevent this
diversion is to move LPG in the supply chain at one market price so that the
incentive for diversion is eliminated. Based on a study undertaken by a Committee15
constituted by Government of India, “Savings due to Aadhaar de-duplication, in the
291 districts covered under DBTL, 6.18 lakh duplicate connections were identified

14
https://jeevanpramaan.gov.in/
15
Dhande Committee Report http://petroleum.nic.in/docs/dhande.pdf
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 Aadhaar: Dynamics of Digital Identity

out of over 40 million LPG consumers who provided their Aadhaar numbers. This
de-duplication could lead to an annual saving of Rs.1.931 billion (assuming a 50%
duplication rate and annual consumption of 12 cylinders up to the cap)”.

In order for a consumer to successfully receive his/her subsidy directly into their
bank accounts, they are required to submit either their Aadhaar to both LPG
distributor and Bank Branch or provide their Account details to LPG Distributor.
During the implementation of the DBTL it has been observed that when subsidy
amount is transferred using Aadhaar as a ‘Financial Address’, the success is
relatively higher than that of Account-based transactions.

Aadhaar-enabled Public Distribution System (AePDS)16 – The success of PDS

system lies in identifying the target beneficiaries and ensuring that allocated food
grains reach the eligible families and thus strike a balance between the cost of
distribution and the reach. However, to ensure that the food grains reach all the
targeted beneficiaries, the following two aspects are extremely important:

 to identify the beneficiaries correctly and

 to distribute the entitled quota to the entitled family

One of the major challenges in achieving the goals of an efficient PDS is

exaggeration of the Ration Card numbers that is resulted by fakes or duplicates. In
this regard, there have been several initiatives in the State of Andhra Pradesh,
Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, etc. where
combination of Value Proposition of Aadhaar is being leveraged to ensure better
targeting of beneficiaries.

Cashless AePDS – As a next step in the implementation of AePDS, the

Government of A.P. had initiated offering commodities in the Fair Price Shops
using Aadhaar enabled Payments System that helps the beneficiaries making
payments without using cash and helping the progression towards a cashless
economy. While the concept has been tried in only two shops as on 15 th of July
2016, it is expected that all the Fair Price Shops will be connected on this network
in the near future.

The Pilot has been initiated in “Royyuru” Village of “Thotlavalluru” Mandal in

Krishna District with IDFC Bank as the Partner. Andhra Bank is the other Partner,
which is gearing up for initiating the Pilot soon.

Aadhaar for Fertilizer subsidy - Aadhaar is also used for distributing Fertilizer
subsidy to the intended Farmer in the right quantity and in the right mix. This
unique approach has been successfully implemented in the State of A.P., which
involves digitization of land records, linking the same with the database of Farmers
and seeding of Aadhaar.
16
http://www.uidai.gov.in/images/resource/uid_and_pds.pdf
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 Aadhaar: Dynamics of Digital Identity

Periodic soil testing is organized to ascertain the ideal quantity and mix of the
fertilizers which gets populated in the Portal designed for this purpose. When the
Farmer wants to draw the Fertilizers, triggered by successful Aadhaar
authentication, the fertilizer mix gets prompted – based on which, the farmer can
choose the fertilizers. This information is sent to the concerned department for a
decision on the subsidy part.

It is worth noting that, both AePDS and Aadhaar for Fertilizer Subsidy - are a part
of the Government of India’s initiative of BAPU (Biometrically Authenticated
Physical Uptake).

India Stack - As a part of Digital India movement and by leveraging the JAM (Jan
Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile) Trinity, ‘India Stack’ model enables adoption of
‘paperless’, ‘presence-less’ and ‘cashless’ transactions using resident consent for
service delivery. This model has been received well by various service providers
including Banks, MFI, Online Wallet providers etc. and can be extended across
many other sectors as well.

e-NPS - New Pension System (NPS) is now made available online and a new
beneficiary can get registered using Aadhaar e-KYC. This helps a seamless
registration process, resulting into instant creation of a New Pension Account.

Insurance issuance @ CSC - The process of issuing instant Insurance Policies at

the CSC has started using Aadhaar as the factor of authentication and for collecting
KYC information electronically (e-KYC).

Micro Pensions - India Invest Micro Pension Services (IIMPS) has started
registering new beneficiaries for Micro Pensions scheme – a voluntary savings
scheme for after retirement, using Aadhaar e-KYC. This was initiated as a pilot in
2014 in Noida Industrial area.

Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS) - Launched in year

2015, the service is now (as on 30th July 2016) available at 639 organizations,
registered over 1.88 lakh employees, over 5000 active devices.

Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance system is implemented by NIC.

Jeevan Pramaan – Jeevan Pramaan is an Aadhaar enabled digital life certificate

for pensioners. Over 16.13 lakh Pensioners are taking benefit of this facility.
Pensioner may generate his/her "Jeevan Pramaan" at home (even outside India) or
at any of the Jeevan Pramaan or CSC center across India using Aadhaar based
biometric authentication.

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 Aadhaar: Dynamics of Digital Identity

eSign - eSign is an online service that can be integrated within various service
delivery applications via an open API to facilitate digitally signing a document by
an Aadhaar holder.

Digi locker – Dedicated 1 GB of personal storage space, linked to each resident’s

Aadhaar number for storing docs electronically with over 20.08 lakh users.

Mobile SIM issuance with e KYC - Aadhaar letter and e-Aadhaar accepted as POI
and POA for issuing mobile SIM cards. e-KYC is currently being evaluated for
issuance of mobile SIM cards with inputs from MHA and TRAI.

EPIC - Election Commission of India initiated the de-duplication of Electors

database by seeding over 31 crore Voter ID cards (Data dated 31st August 2015)
had been linked with Aadhaar numbers.

Engagement of Bank Mitrs (Business Correspondents) - Bank Mitrs availability

and capability to provide real time banking facility has been enhanced by making
available over 1.08 lakh Aadhaar enabled microATMs offering transparent
functioning doing over 2 crores AEPS transactions in June 2016.

Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) - PMJDY was launched in August,

2014 with the primary objective of ensuring access to various financial services like
availability of basic savings bank account, credit, remittances facility, insurance and
pension to the excluded sections of society. So far 22.48 crore accounts are opened
under the scheme of which 10.79 crore are linked to Aadhaar Number.

Aadhaar in Securities Markets - Securities Market Regulator SEBI issued circular

on 22-01-2016 on KYC, allowing Aadhaar Based e-KYC (OTP based up to Rs.
50,000 investments) as accepted mode KYC. In case investments are above Rs.
50,000, resident needs to do biometric authentication based e-KYC.

Linking Universal Account Number (UAN) for EPFO with Aadhaar - Linking
UAN with Aadhaar helps in cleansing of EPFO Database, besides facilitating hassle
free claim settlement and payment of benefits, directly to beneficiary Aadhaar
linked Bank Account. Of the 6.38 crores database over 1.51 crore have been linked
to Aadhaar.

Acceptance of Aadhaar for issue of passport (Launched in May 2015) - MEA

has integrated Aadhaar e-KYC service with their passport system by accepting it as
PoI/PoA. Till June 2016, around 44 Lakh eKYC transactions have been performed
by MEA for passport applications.

Use of Aadhaar authentication for e-verification of Income Tax Return

(Launched in July’15) - CBDT has launched e-verification service for Income Tax
Return with one of the options being Aadhaar OTP authentication. Over 68.36 lakh
PAN card holders are linked to Aadhaar numbers.
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 Aadhaar: Dynamics of Digital Identity

Patient registration in OPD - This application of Aadhaar helps patients to book

appointment for OPD in 43 hospitals across India and so far more than 3 Lac online
appointments have been confirmed using Aadhaar based e-KYC.

Land Registration - A pilot was conducted in Jind, Haryana for Aadhaar based
Land registration. This involves buyer, seller and witnesses to provide their
Aadhaar for any sale or purchase of Land.

6. Conclusion

Largely, the inability to prove identity is one of the biggest barriers preventing the
poor from accessing government and financial services. With the introduction of
Aadhaar, a digital ID platform, the scope to completely revolutionize various
service delivery sectors including the financial sector in India is exponential.
Aadhaar platform coupled with the four properties of i.e. Uniqueness,
Authentication, Financial Address and e-KYC, provides a way for the Government
of India to directly reach residents of the country by using the resident’s Aadhaar
number only. It also opens avenues for residents to access various services that
were never accessible to them before.

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 Aadhaar: Dynamics of Digital Identity
World View on Aadhaar
“When it comes to ID systems, India's
Aadhaar initiative sets a high bar for
the rest of the world. Aadhaar is a
state-of-the-art online system that
provides unique 12-digit ID numbers to
residents of India. These numbers can
be used for a wide range of public and
private services”. (World Bank, April
2013)
“In scale and ambition, India’s unique
identification effort is unparalleled. If
all goes as planned, an estimated 600
million people – about half of India’s
population – will have been enrolled by
mid-2014. Such a program underscores
how smart public sector investments
can dramatically accelerate important
economic development and hopefully
boost our financial inclusion efforts.”
(Consultative Group to Assist the Poor
(CGAP), February 2014)
“The government has rolled out plans
to use Aadhaar as basis for direct
transfer of benefits (DBT) to the
intended beneficiaries’ bank accounts.
This can help plug leakages in the form
of fakes/duplicates and generate huge
fiscal savings for the government.
Savings in different scenarios could be
from 0.2-1.2% of GDP, depending on
the schemes targeted (some need
political choice) and whether states
participate”. (UBS, India’s ‘three
arrows’, January 2014)
“Aadhaar’s virtue lies in using
technology to replace human
discretion, while keeping the system
simple enough – fingerprints and iris
scans – for citizens to understand”.
(Pre-Budget, Economic Survey, 2015-
16)
“…it (Aadhaar) would be the first
biometrically verified unique ID
implemented on a national scale and
would provide the “identity
infrastructure” for financial inclusion, as
well as for strengthening AML/CFT
implementation, delivery of social
services, subsidies and other programs
and national security, and anti-corruption
efforts” (Financial Action Task Force,
February 2013)
“The data shows that the people without
good identity documents tend to be
lower-income earners”. (Wall Street
Journal, April 2012)
"Therefore, it is increasingly feasible to
identify households below the poverty line
and give them cash. The new technologies
of biometric identification and payments
through mobile phones have created a
range of new possibilities for the design
of programmes."(Pre-Budget Economic
Survey) 2014-15)
“India’s fuel subsidy program,
implementing cash transfers to Aadhaar-
linked bank accounts to buy liquefied
petroleum gas cylinders saved about US
$1 billion per year when applied
throughout the country. This is just one
of many subsidy programs in India that
are being converted to direct transfers
using digital ID, potentially saving over
US $11 billion per year in government
expenditures through reduced leakage
and efficiency gains.” (World Bank
Development Report on Digital Dividends
2016)
"This could be the greatest poverty
killer app we've ever seen," (Jim Yong
Kim, World Bank President (April 2013)
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