A Vodafone-Aadhaar pilot project launched on Wednesday promises to change the way people get access to services provided by telecom, banking and insurance firms.

People can pop up their 12-digit Aadhaar (Unique Identification Authority of India) numbers at a Vodafone counter (in Hyderabad and Vijayawada for now) and can get a SIM-card, without having to bother submitting a proofs of identity and address.

Though States such as Andhra Pradesh have already started using Aadhaar numbers (again in pilots) in public distribution system, it is for the first time that UIDAI has given a private agency access to the database that currently has details about 21 crore people.

Vodafone is the first private company authorised by the UIDAI, the Central agency to issue the unique numbers to the Indian residents, as an Authentication Service Agency and Authentication User Agency.

“When a subscriber shows his Aadhaar number, we will authenticate it by taking his or her finger impressions. This information will hit the UIDAI servers in Delhi for verification. Within no time, we will get authentication. This will significantly reduce the time and verification costs,” T.V. Ramachandran, Resident Director (Regulatory Affairs and Government Relations) of Vodafone, said.

He said the service would later be extended to all the 1,600 stores across the country. Ramachandran felt that this service would open up a wider geography to enrol new subscribers in rural areas, where a good number of people do not have any identity and address proofs. Vodafone is looking at this service as new stream of business. It can now offer third party services to the hospitality, telecom, banking and insurance firms that require identity and address proofs.

> kurmanath.kanthi@thehindu.co.in

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