The government is planning to launch the biometric-based Aadhaar Pay service to help people make payments using their Aadhaar number and the biometric technology.
“As of now, 14 banks have come on board for Aadhaar Pay and the government is in talks with other banks too,” said Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology.
Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has achieved another landmark by generating 111 crore Aadhaar for a population of 125 crore plus. Forty nine crore bank accounts have also been linked to Aadhaar .
“Aadhaar generation has crossed the 111+ crore mark. It’s a great achievement towards inclusion of everyone into national development fabric. It has come a long way in less than six and a half years of its journey from being a unique identification programme to transform itself into a critical development tool of public–centric good governance and targeted delivery of services/benefits/subsidies,” added Prasad.
As on date, Aadhaar’s total saturation percentage is 91.7% (as per Census 2011) while over 99% adult population above the age of 18 have been assigned Aadhaar numbers. Twenty two States/Union Territories have more than 90% saturation.
Aadhaar has become an extraordinary institution to connect the ordinary people of India into the banking system in a flawless manner.