28.1.17

99% of Indians over 18 have Aadhaar


Over 99% of Indians aged 18 and above have Aadhaar cards as more than 111 crore residents have enrolled themselves for the unique identification number. The increase in enrollments will come as a boost to the government's drive to make India a less-cash society as it is encouraging the use of AadhaarPay , a merchant version of Aadhaar-enabled payment system.

Backed by the Aadhaar Act and 91.7% coverage of the total population, the government is set to accelerate the use of unique identification numbers in its social welfare schemes for disbursing entitlements and subsidies as it will help check duplication and pilferage. The Centre saved Rs.36,000 crore in two years even though the use of Aadhaar was restricted to a handful of schemes like PDS, household LPG supply and MGNREGA. We all know Aadhaar was started by the previous government, but at that time, it was only a digital identity . Under the government led by PM Narendra Modi, it has become a powerful tool of financial and future transformation.

Sources said after the government banned high value notes, Aadhaar generation and its use for financial transactions saw a substantial jump. Aadhaar enrolment between March 2014 and May 2014 was 3-4 lakh a day and went up to around 5-6 lakh per day by October 2016. Since demonetisation, Aadhaar enrollment and update requests have been in the range of 7-8 lakh per day .

Before the note ban, the rate of linking Aadhaar with bank accounts was about 60 lakh per month which increased to 1.70-1.90 crore per month after demonetisation.

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