The Centre on 8 April unveiled a new Aadhaar app that enables users to digitally verify and share their Aadhaar details, marking a significant advancement in digital convenience and privacy. Thus, there is no longer a need to provide photocopies or carry actual cards. Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Union Minister for Electronics and IT, formally unveiled the app in the nation’s capital. The minister emphasised the value of digital innovation and said the app was an attempt to make Aadhaar authentication quicker, simpler, and more secure.
New Features will Make Life Easier for Card Holders
In a video message shared on the social media site X, Vaishnaw claimed that the new Face ID authentication feature of the Aadhaar App will eliminate the need for cardholders to carry a physical card or a photocopy. He went on to say that the app gives users the ability to securely transmit only the information that is required and only with their permission. Users now have total control over their personal information and can share only the information that is required with a single tap, he continued. Face ID identification is one of the app’s most notable features; it improves security and streamlines verification. Similar to making a UPI payment, a QR code scan can now be used to verify an Aadhaar account. The minister further explained on X that Aadhaar verification is as easy as using UPI to make a payment. Now, users may securely communicate and digitally validate their Aadhaar information. People will no longer have to present paper copies of their Aadhaar cards at airports, hotels, stores, or other verification locations thanks to this new method.
The App Guarded with Strong Security Features
Strong privacy measures have been incorporated into the design of the software, which is presently under beta testing. It guarantees that Aadhaar information cannot be altered, tampered with, or exploited. Only with the user’s consent is information securely shared. Vaishnaw underlined the importance of AI and digital public infrastructure (DPI) in forming India’s digital future while referring to Aadhaar as the “aadhaar” (basis) of numerous government programmes. He asked interested parties to offer ideas on how to combine DPI and artificial intelligence (AI) to spur additional growth, with privacy at the centre.
ChatGPT Creates Fake Adhaar and PAN Cards
For Indian citizens, Aadhaar cards—issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)—are an essential form of identification. However, with OpenAI’s introduction of GPT-4o’s picture-generating feature, this once-secure document is now up against an unexpected new threat. More than 700 million photos have been created by users since the launch of GPT-4o, some of which uncannily mimic actual Aadhaar and PAN cards. Social media users have started posting pictures of AI-generated Aadhaar cards with their own photos on them, which is a concerning trend. Important components like layout, fonts, and style seem incredibly lifelike, even though facial features aren’t always flawless. An image of Elon Musk’s Aadhaar card was even posted by one user; it was so realistically produced that it seemed like a legitimate government document.
We all must have heard about the multinational company, “Infosys.” With more than forty years of expertise in managing the systems and operations of multinational organizations, Infosys effectively guides its customers through their digital transformation journey.
India is frequently referred to as the globe’s IT hub, and the credit for this goes to a few jewels. Nandan Nilekani, the co-founder of Infosys, is one of them. He is the guy behind India’s “Aadhar Cards,” which have been used to register 131.68 crore individuals to date. He was the driving force behind India’s IT boom, beginning in 1978 when companies like Microsoft didn’t even exist.
He is a legend and an inspiration to the educated Indian middle class, who perceive him as a guy who has risen to exceptional levels in life only through hard work. After watching his father’s repeated work migrations and following migrations in his early days, he aspired to be an independent entrepreneur.
After acquiring an education from the IIT, where he learned to work hard and perform as part of a team, he was transformed from a small-town youngster to a confident and mature young man. He also grasped the necessity of giving back to society, which is an essential aspect of his persona that hasn’t changed over the years.
Read this article further, to know about the history and journey ofNandan Nilekani, starting from his early life, education, net worth, family, and more.
Nandan Nilekani – Biography
Name
Nandan Nilekani
Born
2 June, 1955
Nationality
Indian
Spouse
Rohini Nilekani
Education
St Joseph’s High school Dharwad, IIT Bombay (BTech)
Nandan Nilekani was born in Bangalore, Karnataka, on June 2, 1955. His parents, Durga and Mohan Rao Nilekani are from Sirsi, a small town in the Northern Karnataka region. Konkani is his first language. In addition to Konkani, he is fluent in Kannada, English, Marathi, and Hindi.
Nilekani attended Bishop Cotton Boys’ School and St. Joseph’s High School in Dharwad, Karnataka PU College Dharwad, and graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in Mumbai with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering.
Nandan Nilekani – Family
Nandan Nilekani’s father’s and mother’s names are Mohan Rao Nilekani and Durga Rao Nilekani, respectively. His father was the general manager of Mysore and Minerva Mills, and he believed in Fabian Socialist ideas, which impacted Nilekani as a child. Vijay Nilekani, Nilekani’s older brother, works at the Nuclear Energy Institute in the United States.
Nilekani married Rohini Nilekani, whom he met during an IIT quiz contest. Nihar and Janhavi are their two children, both of whom have graduated from Yale University with a bachelor’s degree.
Nandan Nilekani with his Wife Rohini Nilekani
Nandan Nilekani – Career
Information Technology and Infosys
Company Logo of Infosys
He began his career in 1978 at Patni Computer Systems in Mumbai, when he met and was interviewed by N.R. Narayana Murthy. Nilekani, Murthy, and five of his other Patni colleagues resigned in 1981 to establish Infosys. Nilekani became the Chief Executive Officer of Infosys in March 2002 and held the position until April 2007, when he passed over the reigns to his colleague Kris Gopalakrishnan and became co-chairman of the executive board. Nilekani held many positions before becoming CEO in 2002, including managing director, chief operating officer, and president.
From March 2002 to April 2007, he was the company’s CEO. Infosys’ revenue grew exponentially during his five-year term as CEO. He returned to Infosys in 2017 when CEO Vishal Sikka left to become chairman. Upon his return, he relocated the company’s power center from California to Bengaluru.
Nilekani left Infosys in July 2009 to become the chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India, which he accepted at the request of then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. As the head of the UIDAI, he was in charge of implementing the Multipurpose National Identity Card, or Unique Identity Card program in India.
This effort intends to equip every Indian inhabitant with a unique identity number, which will be used largely to effectively deliver social benefits. The means of identification was biometric, and the effort to construct a government database of India’s entire population has been dubbed “the world’s largest social enterprise.”
They created Aadhaar, an Indian biometric ID system that includes a database of population information and home locations for Indians. In April 2017, 1.14 billion Indians received their national identification number. Aadhaar was dubbed “the most advanced ID scheme in the world” by World Bank Chief Economist Paul Romer in 2016. This software has been chastised for invading people’s privacy and disclosing sensitive data.
He is the president of NCAER and a member of the ICRIER, which stands for, the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations’ Board of Governors. He also belongs to the Bombay Heritage Fund and the World Economic Forum Foundation’s advisory boards.
Nilekani, to promote his book Imagining India: The Idea of a Renewed Nation, has been on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He also gave a TED talk about his vision for India’s future in 2009.
NASSCOM
NASSCOM was founded by Harish Mehta, Ashank Desai, Nandan Nilekani, Shiv Nadar, and Narayana Murthy. The National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) is an Indian non-governmental trade association and advocacy group focused on advancing the country’s technology industry. Established in 1988, NASSCOM operates as a nonprofit organization, playing a crucial role in shaping and supporting the Indian tech sector.
EkStep
EkStep is a non-profit literacy and numeracy platform. Nilekani is the chairman of EkStep. EkStep, which was founded by the Nilekani with an initial investment of $10 million (about INR 65 crore), aims to solve the ‘learning problem’ by developing a technology-driven platform to assist youngsters in enhancing their ‘learning outcomes’ from a young age. EkStep plans to achieve so through gamified applications available on the Google Play Store.
Politics
In March 2014, Nilekani joined the Indian National Congress and contested the Bangalore South Lok Sabha seat election. He lost by 228,575 votes versus Bhartiya Janta Party’s candidate Ananth Kumar. He joined a committee in December 2016 to look at how consumers in India may make better use of digital payments.
NCAER
Nilekani is the president of the NCAER, which stands for, National Council of Applied Economic Research. NCAER is India’s oldest and biggest non-profit economic research think tank, situated in New Delhi. NCAER, which was launched in 1956, conducts sponsored research and independent economic policy research projects for governments and businesses.
Its research spans practically every aspect of economics, from forecasting to poverty studies. NCAER is one of only a few think tanks in the world that collects primary survey data from homes, businesses, customers, and individuals on a scientific, nationwide scale. The NCAER’s social and economic data sets are frequently utilized in Indian research and analysis.
Nandan Nilekani has made around 20 personal investments to date, which are as follows :
Date
Organization Name
Round
Amount
Mar 13, 2020
Juggernaut
Series A
$672K
Feb 24, 2020
RailYatri
Series B
$14.3M
Feb 24, 2020
IntrCity
Series B
$14.3M
Sep 26, 2018
PharmEasy
Series C
$50M
Apr 27, 2018
IntrCity
Series B
$8M
Apr 27, 2018
RailYatri
Series B
$8M
Sep 19, 2017
Power2SME
Series E
$26M
Jul 11, 2017
ThePrint
Venture Round
₹450M
Jul 1, 2017
Felis Creations
Angel Round
₹5.5M
Dec 26, 2016
ShopX
Venture Round
$5M
Oct 19, 2016
IntrCity
Venture Round
$3M
Nandan Nilekani – Books
Imagining India: The Idea of a Renewed Nation
Rebooting India: Realizing a Billion Aspirations
Nilekani co-authored his third book with Tanuj Bhojwani, “The Art of Bitfulness: Keeping calm in the digital world” which was released in January 2022.
Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) by IIT Bombay during the Institute’s 57th Convocation
2017
Lifetime Achievement Award from E & Y, CNBC- TV 18 conferred India Business leader award for the outstanding contributor to the Indian Economy-2017, and India Today magazine ranked him 12th in India’s 50 most powerful people of 2017 list
2011
NDTV Indian of the Year’s Transformational Idea of the Year Award, and Doctor of Law degree by the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto
2009
‘Legend in Leadership Award’ by the Yale University, and the Time magazine placed Nilekani in the Time 100 list of ‘World’s Most Influential People’
2006
Padma Bhushan, and Businessman of the Year by Forbes Asia
2005
Joseph Schumpeter Prize for innovative services in the economy, economic sciences and politics
2004
Corporate Citizen of the Year at the Asia Business Leaders Award (2004) organised by CNBC
FAQs
Is Nandan Nikaleni still with Infosys?
Nandan Nikaleni is the Non-executive chairman of Infosys.
What is the net worth of Nandan Nikaleni?
The net worth of Nandan Nikaleni is $3.4 billion (September 2024).
What are Nandan Nilekani’s education qualifications?
Nandan Nilekani is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in Mumbai with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering.
What is Nandan Nilekani age?
The age of Nandan Nilekani is 69 years, he was born on June 2, 1955.
The digital world has made our life easier and faster. Nowadays, anything is possible with just a click or a touch. It wouldn’t be wrong to say, that our life revolves around the internet. Every business, organisations, and companies are on the internet. However, with the increase in the use of the internet in the world, we have seen a drastic increase in cybercrime as well. Many organisations and faced cyber-attacks on them.
Firstly we need to understand what a cyber-attack is. A cyber-attack can be defined as a malicious activity or planned attempt by any organization or an individual to steal or corrupt the information of the system of another organization or individual. Cybercriminals or hackers generally use various methods to attack the system; some of them are malware, ransomware, phishing, denial of service, and other methods. In this article, we will talk everything about India being the third most cyber-attacked nation and what steps the Government has taken. So, let’s take a look at them.
Cyber attacks are done in many forms by criminals and hackers and some of them are defined below:
Malware
Malware can be known as malicious software, which includes spyware, viruses, worms, and ransomware. Malware violates laws and launches a network through a vulnerability, generally happens when a person clicks on a minacious link or email attachment that then installs the risky software into your system without your permission. Once this software attacks your system, the malicious software can manage to do things such as install some more malicious and additional harmful software, can obtain and spy on all the information present on the hard disk, can disrupt some components of the system, and can block your access to manage some important components of a computer network.
Phishing
It is a cyber-crime in which a target receives an Email, telephonic call, or a text SMS by someone who pretends to be a lawful organization or institute to lure the targets into providing essential data and sensitive information such as banking details, credit cards, and debit card details, personal information, and various account passwords. Then these details are used by the attacker to access the information-which can further result in financial loss, cyberbullying, cyber blackmailing, and identity theft.
Man-In-The-Middle Attack
This cyber-attack is also known as eavesdropping, takes place when attackers insert themselves in between transactions of two-party. Once the attacker interrupts the traffic, they can rectify and steal information. On less secure public Wi-Fi, attackers can indulge themselves between a visitor device and the network through the same Wi-Fi connection. Without having an idea, the user passes all information through the attacker- after the malware reaches inside the device, the attacker can install malicious software to steal all of the victim’s data.
Denial-Of-Service Attack
DoS is a cyber-attack that is meant to shut down a server, network, and machine by making them inaccessible to the right users. DoS floods the target with traffic, or it just sends irrelevant information that triggers a crash of the server or network. Sometimes attackers can also use multiple compromised devices to attack. This is known as Denial-of-service (DoS).
SQL Injection
Structured Query Language Injection is a cyber-attack that takes place when the attackers insert the malicious coding inside the server that takes over the SQL and forces the system server to disclose the crucial information and data. SQL Injection destroys the database, and the attacker can modify or delete the data stored in the database, causing persistent changes to the application behavior or content.
DNS Tunneling
It is the most damaging DNS attack. Domain Name Systems turns into a hacking weapon. DNS tunneling is a cyber-attack where the hacker or attacker encodes the information of other protocols or programs in DNS queries and responses. DNS tunnelling generally holds data payloads-which can be added to an attacked DNS server and is used to control applications and remote servers.
Reasons Behind Cyber Attacks
There are several reasons why these cyber attacks take place and they are:
To gain business financial details.
To gain customer financial information (for example- Bank details).
To gain product design or trade secrets.
To gain login credentials and email addresses of various customers or staff.
Cyber-warfare: It is a war caused by the Internet to leak information.
Biggest Cyber Attacks in India
SIM Swap Scam
In Mumbai, two hackers were arrested for transferring almost 4 crore rupees from various bank accounts in August 2018. They illegally transferred money from the bank accounts of numerous individuals just by gaining SIM card information. Both the hackers blocked individual SIM cards, and with the support of fake documentation, they pulled out transactions with the help of online banking. Various company accounts were also on the target.
Hacking of Indian Healthcare Websites
In 2019, Health Care websites became the target of cyber-attack. As confirmed by US-based cybersecurity firms, hackers broke in and invaded a leading India-based healthcare website. The hackers were able to steal the information of about 68 lakh patients as well as doctors.
Hacking of UIDAI Aadhaar Software
In 2018, around 1.1 billion Aadhaar cardholders’ personal information was breached. According to data by UIDAI, more than 210 websites leaked the essential Aadhar details online. Data leaked included Aadhaar, mobile numbers, PAN, bank account numbers, IFSC codes, and mostly all the personal data of all individual Aadhaar cardholders. If it was not quite shocking, some anonymous hacker was selling the Aadhaar information of individuals for 500 rupees through WhatsApp.
ATM System Hacked
In 2018, cyber attackers targeted the ATM servers of Canara Bank. Almost around 20 lakh rupees were stolen from various accounts of Canara Bank account holders. There were around 50 targets estimated according to information provided by the source. The cyber attackers were able to steal the ATM details of around more than 300 account holders. Hackers were using skimmed devices to wipe out the information from debit cardholders. The transactions made by hackers from various accounts amounted from 10,000 rupees to a maximum amount of 40,000 rupees.
Cosmos Bank Cyber Attack in Pune
Attacked by hackers in the year 2018. The cyber-attackers pulled off almost 94.42 crore rupees from Cosmos Cooperative Bank, which shook the entire banking sector of India. Hackers were able to steal huge amounts by hacking the ATM server of the Bank and gathering the information of debit cardholders and visa details. Hackers from around 28 countries immediately withdrew all the money as soon as they were informed.
Global Weekly Cyber Attacks per Organisation
Steps Taken by Indian Government
To counter these attacks, the Government of India has taken a few steps to secure companies and organisation from being victim.
Personal Data Protection Bill
The bill implies the processing and storage of any critical data related to individuals living only in India. It majorly states that the sensitive and essential personal information of the individual should be stored locally; however, it can only be processed abroad under some terms and conditions. The bill also focuses on making social media companies more accountable and urging them to solve issues related to the spread of irrelevant and offensive content on the internet.
Website Audit
Surrounded by the rising number of government website hacking, data theft, email phishing, and privacy breach cases in India, the Indian government has taken initiatives to conduct an audit on all of the websites and applications of the government. Under this initiative by the Indian government, around 90 security auditing organizations have been enlisted by the government for auditing the best practices of information security of the Indian government data.
CERT-In
The advancing Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), which is responsible for operating the national agency for handling cybersecurity, has helped in decreasing the rate of cyber-attacks on government networks and servers in India. The implementation of cybersecurity awareness and anti-phishing training across Indian government organizations and agencies has assisted employees working in technological department of government sectors in fighting cybercrimes. Apart from spreading awareness of the hazard caused by phishing attacks to the public, CERT-In has issued advisories and alerts regarding the latest cyber countermeasures and vulnerabilities to counter and tackle them.
Cyber Surakshit Bharat
India aims to strengthen the cybersecurity ecosystem in coordination with the government’s vision for making Digital India. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has come up with the Cyber Surakshit Bharat movement. This program is in association with the National e-Governance Division of India. Indian governance system has transformed digitalization rapidly; therefore, the requirement of good governance is important. With such an initiative by the government, there would be an increase in awareness against cybercrime and building the capacity for securing the CISOs and the frontline IT staff across all government organizations in India. Apart from just awareness, the first public-private partnership also includes a series of some workshops to make government employees fight against cybercrimes and help professionals with cyber security health tool kits to take down cyber threats.
Conclusion
Cyber-attacks have now become a weapon to launch attacks on different organisations. Mainly they are done to attain secrets of organisations or Governments. Unfortunately, because of this India has become prone to cyber-attack and in 2020, it recorded 1.16 million breaches alone. Some steps have been taken to counter these attacks, however more and more strong cyber security is needed.
FAQs
Which countries get cyber attacked the most?
Top 3 countries that cyber attacked the most are:
Japan
Australia
India
What do you mean by Cyber Attacks?
A cyber-attack can be defined as a malicious activity or planned attempt by any organization or an individual to steal or corrupt the information of the system of another organization or individual.
Which country is the best for cybersecurity?
Sweden has suffered the lowest rate of malware infection. It is considered as one of the best country with cybersecurity.
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is a statutory authority establish under the provisions of the Aadhaar Act 2016 from 12th July 2016 by the Government of India, under the ministry of Electronic and Information Technology. Prior to its establishment as a statuary authority, UIDAI was functioning as an attached office of the then Planning commission and was established a decade ago on 28th January 2009.
The logo of Aadhaar
UIDAI was created with the objective of issuing a Unique Identification Number (UID), named as Aadhaar to the citizens of India. The UID had to be robust enough so it would eliminate duplicate and fake identities and also verify and authenticate in an easy, cost effective manner. The authority has so far managed to issue more than 124 crore Aadhaar numbers to the residents of India.
After the Aadhaar Act 2016, UIDAI is responsible for operation and management of all stages of Aadhaar life cycle, developing the policy, procedure. And also to systematically issue Aadhaar numbers to individuals and perform authentication and the security of identity information and authentication records of individuals.
The vision of UIDAI is to empower resident of India with a unique identity and digital platform to authenticate anytime and anywhere.
The mission of UIDAI are
To provide for good governance, efficient, transparent and targeted delivery of subsidies, benefits and services, the expenditure for which is incurred from the Consolidated Fund of India, to residents of India through assigning of unique identity numbers.
To develop policy, procedure and system for issuing Aadhaar number to residents of India, who request for same by submitting their demographic information and biometric information by undergoing the process of enrolment.
To develop policy, procedure and systems for Aadhaar holders for updating and authenticating their digital identity.
Ensure availability, scalability and resilience of the technology infrastructure.
Build a long term sustainable organization to carry forward the vision and values of the UIDAI.
To ensure security and confidentiality of identity information and authentication records of individuals.
To ensure compliance of Aadhaar Act by all individual and agencies in letter and spirit.
To make regulations & rules consistent with the Aadhaar Act, for carrying out the provisions of the Aadhaar Act.
An example of the details that Aadhar card contains
Some of the main functions of UIDAI are according to the Aadhar Act of 2016 are:
Specifying the regulations, demographic and biometric information required for enrolment and the process of verification.
Appointing of one or more entities to operate the Central Identities Data Repository
Generating and assigning Aadhaar numbers to individuals and authenticating Aadhar number.
Maintaining and updating the information of individuals in the CIDR in such manner as may be specified by the regulations
Omitting and deactivating of an Aadhaar number and information as specified by regulations.
Specifying the manner of use of Aadhaar numbers for the purpose of providing or availing benefits, services and other purposes for which Aadhar numbers may be used.
Calling for records and information conducting inspections, inquiries and audit operations for the purposes of Aadhaar Act of CIDR.
Data management, security protocols and other technology safeguards under Aadhaar Act.
Levying and collection of the fees or authorizing the registrar, enrolling agencies or other service providers to collect such fees for the services provided by them.
Setting up of facilitation centers and grievance mechanism for redressal of grievances of individuals, Registrars, enrolling agencies and other service providers.
Biometric Challenges – No single biometric modality is sufficient for uniqueness guarantee. As it needs facial photo, eight to ten fingerprints and possibly iris. The problems with that is that significant percentage of the population will not have a desired biometric pattern: children below 8 years old. Enrollment “kit” that contains everything for a mobile unit. Simple training of enrollee such as video when they are waiting in line for enrollment.
Rural Biometric Challenges – Fingerprint is socially acceptable, but it requires physical contact. Manual labor, dirty hands, assistance needed to capture prints result in large number of errors or missing prints. When it comes to iris scan it is better technology because it is touch less, but needs camera redesign for rural environment. Need improved user friendly capture to enroll in the open. Its needs in situation monitoring for enrollment and continuous monitoring.
Biometric De – Duplication – Assuming 10 fingerprints for each and every person. A duplication search requires every fingerprint to be compared against entire database. Assuming a peak load of 1 million enrollments/day at database size of 800 million.
Architecture Challenges – The architecture challenges includes distributed computing, cloud computing and virtualization, in memory databases and optimizing for computation and network.
Network Infrastructure – Since rural internet connectivity is very poor the government must work on getting a better mobile network for the rural areas. Enrollment client must work in offline mode and batch upload when connected. It should ride on credit card POS networks.
Security and Fraud Detection – It make it secure for client, the server must be able to detect and prevent intruders. It should detect fraud on audit trails. Make automatic alerts like credit card alerts based on suspicious patterns.
Managing multiple risks – It manages multiple risks such as Adoption, Enrolment, Political, technology, scale, sustainability, privacy and security.
Over 90% of Indian adults are now enrolled in the Aadhaar program making the total about 1.2 million people. It has become one of the pillars which people debate on the role of government in our lives. The value of privacy and how we should safeguard it, how public policy should be shaped and implemented and whether technology is being truly harnessed in the best interests of the citizens.
The impact of Aadhaar from the past 10 years
Identity is important
Aadhaar enrolment has been de- linked from a person’s nationality and is instead available to all residents. In order to be eligible for enrolment an applicant does not have to prove their Indian citizenship, they must only provide proof of residence for at least 182 days. The Aadhaar has identity first approach and the number itself does not establish nationality or confer any rights or benefits and only establishes who the person is.
Focus on Inclusion
A central debate in India over Aadhaar has been on its claims towards inclusion. It points out vulnerable section of the population as there are many people that have been excluded from individual legal identity, now have an access to a nationally and widely recognized form of identification e.g. the poor migrants, tribal population in remote areas, transgender individuals and the homeless.
Make privacy a priority
The Aadhaar was implemented without a framework of data protection and privacy legislation in place, and it is missing in India even today. As a result, while the central repositories of UIDAI have not been breached, the demographic information collected for issuing Aadhaar cards, and the Aadhaar number itself, have been subject to multiple disclosures by government bodies as well as through fraudulent means.
There was a lack of clarity on the status of information and the rules on how it was to collected, handled and disclosed. Limited data collection for specific purposes and controls on the retention of data, must be incorporated into the program, in the design of the technical system and also in the rules for every partner and agency related in handling identity related data.
The Aadhaar program costs US $1.16 per enrolment which is the lowest of any identification program in the world. In other parts of the world the costs are as high as US $6 for enrolment and up to US $5 per identity card, which developing countries cannot afford. This makes the system dependent on connectivity for authentication and enrolment which is difficult to adopt for countries with lower mobile and internet usage.
Which is why UIDAI introduced offline verification in 2018 through a digitally signed copy of demographic information on a QR code on the Aadhaar card. It enabled local authentication without connecting to the centralized database and also addressed the issue of fraudulent Aadhaar cards.
Financial Inclusion
When trying to assess the impact of the Aadhaar system, 2 instances are very significant the PDS, where the benefits are disputable and the financial services where its role is to accelerate KYC process in opening bank accounts. The Reserve Bank of India in 2011 recommended the use of the Aadhaar based e-KYC process for opening small bank accounts.
This received a boost in 2014 with the launch of the Jan Dhan Yojana, through which over 300 million accounts were opened using eKYC. An uptick in account usage was observed once cash benefits were directly transferred to these accounts, suggesting that the lack of an initial balance might be a deterrent
