 "In fairness, the disagreements over Aadhaar could have been softer had it been deliberated fairly and in the right forums")
Nearly 10.6 million Aadhaar-based face-authentication transactions in May have been successfully completed, the government said in a press release. This is the second consecutive month to register more than 10 million face authentication transactions.
Face authentication transactions are required for a range of purposes, including availing of rations through the public distribution system (PDS) and other government schemes and verifying Aadhaar-enabled payments.
The number of face authentication transactions is on an upward trajectory and the monthly numbers clocked in May is an increase of 38 per cent, compared with such transactions reported in January 2023, indicative of its growing usage, the government said in a statement.
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The artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning-based face authentication solution developed in-house by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is now being used by 47 entities, including state government departments, ministries in the central government, and some banks, it said.
Among many usages, it is being used for registering beneficiaries under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, for authentication of beneficiaries in the PM Kisan scheme, and for generating digital life certificates at home by pensioners.
“It is being used for marking staff attendance at several government departments and for opening bank accounts at a few leading banks via their business correspondents,” it added.
Among several states, the government of Andhra Pradesh is using Aadhaar-based face authentication for the Jagananna Vidya Deevena Scheme for fee reimbursement to eligible higher education students and under the EBC Nestham scheme for welfare delivery to women from economically backward segments.
Face authentication provides features like ease of usage and faster authentication, and it is preferred as an additional modality to strengthen the authentication success rate along with fingerprint and OTP authentications. It captures live images for authentication. It is safe against any video replay attacks and static photo authentication attempts by anti-social elements.
Face authentication is also working as a robust alternative and helping senior citizens and all those who have issues with the quality of their fingerprints due to several reasons including manual work or health issues.
The month of May also saw the UIDAI execute 14.86 million Aadhaar updates following requests from residents.
The Aadhaar e-KYC service continues to play a key role in the banking and non-banking financial services sectors by providing a transparent and improved customer experience and helping ease the process of doing business. More than 254 million e-KYC transactions were carried out in May alone, the government said.
By the end of May 2023, the cumulative number of Aadhaar e-KYC transactions has gone past 15.2 billion. Continued adoption of e-KYC is significantly reducing customer acquisition costs for entities like financial institutions and telecom service providers, among others.
