Page 136 - The Digital Financial Services (DFS) Ecosystem

ITU-T Focus Group Digital Financial Services
Ecosystem

Table D.3 – India Case Study

India – Aadhaar Unique Identification Numbers
INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND: Aadhaar is an Indian identification program that currently covers 67 percent of the national pop-
ulation. Citizens are issued a unique 12-digit identification number (UID), and biometric information – fingerprints, iris, facial scan
– is recorded and matched to the UID. Aadhaar purposefully avoids issuing a physical ID. Instead, the open, cloud-based system
allows government programs and private- or civil-sector third parties to develop applications for its use.

BASIC NATIONAL IDENTITY PROGRAM INFORMATION
Institution(s) Managing the Program: Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) 1

Funding Source: Government of India 2
Budget for Program Operation: Total expenditure $771,111,833 (as of August 31,2014) 3

4
5
Target Population: Citizens and Residents over age five
Year Introduced: 2008 6
Program Currently Active: Operational and in use / Actively enrolling 7

Are Changes to the Program Planned or Not specified
Anticipated:

NATIONAL IDENTITY PROGRAM METHODOLOGY

9
Mandatory Enrollment: No 8 Method of Enrollment / Scanners, cameras
Initial Capture:
Physical Creden- No (cloud) 10 Electronic Component N/A
tial Involved in Involved in Physical
Authentication: Credential:

Personal Informa- Name, gender, date of birth, and Photo of Individual on N/A
tion Involved in address. 11 Physical Credential:
Authentication:

Biometric Infor- 10 fingerprints, face, iris 12
mation Involved in
Authentication:

PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION
Level of Coverage: 67% of national population 13

Challenges with enrollment or use of the Well-disbursed registration centers and an effective communication campaign have
program by the poor: fueled Aadhaar’s success in enrolling India’s poor. A 2012 study of new registrants
found that 56 percent did not previously carry any form of identification. In addi-
tion, of the households that previously did not carry identification, 87 percent of
them had annual household incomes less than US $2,000. 14

% of the enrolled who are poor: Not specified
Challenges with enrollment or use of the Not specified
program by women:
% of the enrolled who are women: Aadhaar registrations are relatively evenly distributed between genders. 15
• Male=51.8%
• Female=48.1%
• Transgender=.005%

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