Aadhaar card holders have carried out over 90.29 billion authentication transactions, so far. This includes 1.9 billion in January 2023 alone. According to a press release, the majority of the authentication transactions (1.35 billion) were carried out by using biometric fingerprints. Followed by demographic and OTP authentications.
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has already rolled out a new security mechanism for Aadhaar-based fingerprint authentication. The artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) based security mechanism developed in-house is now using a combination of both finger minutiae and finger images to check the liveness of the fingerprint captured.
By the end of January, Aadhaar saturation among all age groups reached 94.65%. The saturation level among the adult population is now near universal. During the month of January, more than 13.7 million Aadhaar cards were successfully updated.
Aadhaar e-KYC service continues to play an important role in banking and non-banking financial services by providing transparent and improved customer experience and helping in ease of doing business. More than 295.2 million eKYC transactions were carried out during January this year.
170 entities including 105 banks are live on e-KYC. The adoption of e-KYC has also significantly reduced customer acquisition costs for entities like financial institutions and telecom service providers. By the end of January, the cumulative number of Aadhaar e-KYC transactions reached 14.12 billion.
Whether it is e-KYC for identity verification, Aadhaar-enabled DBT for direct fund transfer, AePS for last-mile banking, or authentications, Aadhaar, the digital infrastructure of good governance, has been playing a key role in supporting the Digital India mission.
The Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS) is enabling financial inclusion for those at the bottom of the income pyramid. By the end of January 2023, cumulatively, 16.29 billion last-mile banking transactions have been made possible through AePS and the network of micro-ATMs.
More than 1,100 government schemes, programmes, and initiatives in the country run by the both centre and states have been notified to use Aadhaar. The digital ID is helping various ministries and departments in the centre and at states improve efficiency, transparency, and the delivery of welfare services. During the past decade, Aadhaar has emerged as the main evidence of identity for Indian residents. It is used to avail government schemes and services. Residents who had got their Aadhaar issued 10 years ago and have never updated it since then are encouraged to get their documents updated.
India has a plethora of public service portals and platforms to better engage people and offer improved citizen experiences. Bhavishya 9.0, a portal for pensioners, was developed by the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare (DoPPW) in collaboration with the State Bank of India (SBI). It incorporates various stand-alone portals from the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare, providing multiple services on a single window, and will enhance the ease of living for central government pensioners.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched the Tele-Mental Health Assistance and Networking Across States (Tele-MANAS) initiative. The round-the-clock mental health programme was launched to provide universal access to equitable, affordable, and quality mental health care through teleservices under the National Mental Health Programme.
