UIDAI gears up to triple daily Aadhaar authentications to 300 million
UIDAI plans to scale Aadhaar authentications from 100 million to 300 million daily, citing expanding use across financial services.
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is preparing its technology systems to handle up to 300 million daily Aadhaar authentications, a threefold increase from the current volume of roughly 100 million. UIDAI chairperson Neelkanth Mishra shared the projection on Wednesday at the 7th Global Fintech Festival, attributing the anticipated growth to Aadhaar's expanding role across financial services and digital platforms.
Mishra, who also serves as an executive director at the World Bank Group, noted that more than 600 entities currently use Aadhaar for remote identity verification. He described the system as a low-cost trust mechanism that has become foundational to India's digital economy.
The Aadhaar mobile application is also witnessing rapid adoption, with downloads nearing 60 million. The app enables users to update details such as mobile numbers and addresses digitally, reducing the need to visit physical service centres.
Mishra emphasised that Aadhaar's mandate should remain confined to secure identity provision, cautioning against 'scope creep'. "Aadhaar is only a database," he said, adding that the authority, which holds identity records for about 1.44 billion people, aims to let businesses build services on top of this infrastructure.
The broader digital public ecosystem is also expanding. UPI now processes roughly 25 billion transactions worth ₹30 trillion monthly, while Aadhaar-enabled systems have widened participation in digital payments. Mishra also highlighted that equity capital inflows equivalent to 2% of India's GDP are unprecedented for an economy at its current income level.
Looking ahead, UIDAI is investing in post-quantum cryptography to guard against future computing threats and deploying artificial intelligence for fraud detection. The authority is also developing a more scalable architecture and exploring global interoperability, anticipating a three-to-fourfold rise in Indians living or travelling abroad over the next 17 years. UIDAI is additionally engaging startups and fintech firms through research funding and sandbox environments to test new identity and biometric applications.