The Aadhaar issuing authority the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) recently slashed the price of authentication by customers. The government entity has cut the rate from Rs 20 to Rs 3 per instance in order to enable entities to leverage their infrastructure as well as providing ease of living to people through their various services and benefits. Speaking at Global Fintech Fest organised by NPCI-IAMAI, UIDAI CEO Saurabh Garg said that the potential of leveraging Aadhaar in the financial technology sector is immense.
During the event, he was quoted as saying that they have slashed the rate from Rs 20 per authentication to Rs 3, with the objective of ensuring that agencies and entities being able to better access the infrastructure more readily. He said that entities should be able to use the power of the digital infrastructure which has been created by the state that needs to be used to provide people with ease of living with dignity.
Till now, there have been more than 99 crore eKYC processes that have been carried out using the Aadhaar system. It should also be noted that earlier this month UIDAI announced some changes under which cardholders who have not registered their mobile number can download their Aadhaar cards from the entity’s website.
Garg said that he thinks this will give a more cost-effective and non-repudiable solution to the fintech companies when they onboard new customers. He added that this is where the power lies and that the KYC of Aadhaar provides a lifetime identity that is also reusable, which is the power of the Aadhaar system.
He went on to say that the UIDAI does not share any of the biometrics with anyone and expects all of its partners to maintain that same level of security and privacy as the UIDAI does.
Various government schemes and private service providers such as PDS, NREGA, banks and telecom operators have adopted Aadhaar authentication for verification of their beneficiaries/customers. The authentication is generally done either at the time of delivery of benefits or by subscribing to the service.
Aadhaar Authentication Pricing: (Details from the Circular as reported by GoodReturns)
The new regulations made by UIDAI may be called the Aadhaar (Pricing of Aadhaar Authentication Services) Regulations, 2021 (No. of 2021). The new charges of Aadhaar authentication services are as follows according to UIDAI:
(a) Aadhaar authentication services shall be charged Rs. 3 (including applicable taxes) and Rs. 0.50 (including applicable taxes) for each successful Aadhaar e-KYC transaction and each successful Yes/No authentication transaction respectively from requesting entities.
(b) Each failed, but chargeable Aadhaar e-KYC transaction or Yes/No authentication transaction shall be charged Rs. 0.50 (including applicable taxes) per such transaction from requesting entities.
(c) Authentication transactions done by or on behalf of the Central and State Government Ministries/ Departments, for notified services, transfer of benefits and subsidies, shall be exempt from Authentication transaction charges.
(d) The above charges shall be in addition to the License fees and financial disincentives, as applicable.
(e) Details of the transaction error codes and its charges shall be issued separately.
(f) The Authentication transaction charges (for both Aadhaar e-KYC and Yes/No transactions) as in Regulation 2(1) above shall be revised every two years by linking it with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and rounding it to the nearest 10 paisa.
All in all, this was a positive move by the UIDAI to introduce a greater degree of inclusivity on its platform that will allow more people to take part and get integrated with the Aadhaar system going ahead.
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