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Unique ID authority will charge fee for data

It is free for airlines; banks, card companies et al must pay
Last Updated 16 December 2009, 05:58 IST

As a result, to meet the humongous cost, the authority, will levy transaction fee on potential user agencies availing its services. According to the confidential UIDAI working paper, made available to  Deccan Herald, while it will provide authentication services to government agencies at subsidised rate, other user agencies would be levied transaction fee.

The authority proposes to provide chargeable authentication services of two types — address verification and biometrics confirmation. While for airlines it would offer free service for basic ID confirmation, banks, would have to pay Rs 5 for address verification for account opening, and credit card companies Rs 10 for biometrics confirmation.

Revenue scenarios

Likewise, projecting possible scenarios of steady income from service fee, it estimates total annual revenue of Rs 288.15 crore. From address verification Rs 159.55 crore and from biometric confirmation Rs 128.60 crore.

According to preliminary projections, from new mobile connections it expects Rs 19.59 crore, from PAN cards Rs 1.20 crore, from gas connections by PSUs Rs 1.50 crore, from passports Rs 6 lakh, from new LIC policies Rs 10.16 crore, from credit cards Rs 70 lakh, from bank accounts Rs 11.55 crore.

Justifying levying service charges, the authority says, it takes both government agencies and private sector firms anywhere between Rs 100 to Rs 500 for address verification. Furthermore, it is usually done through physical visit besides another enquiry to confirm information provided. Hence, address authentication service by UIDAI will be valuable one.

Big ticket savings

Similarly, it observes that, issuing credit card or granting a loan, needs confirmation of resident’s identity, involving submission of photographs and other documentation.
With UIDAI, however, the agency (card companies / banks) can send scanned photograph or fingerprint (based on security level required) together with other demographic details to confirm identity.

Incidentally, the authority says, the revolutionary single, universal ID number by eliminating fraud and duplicate identities, will save the government exchequer upwards of Rs 20,000 crore annually.

Citing an example, it says Ministry of Petrolum & Natural Gas can save over Rs 1,200 crore a year in subsidies reportedly lost on LPG cylinders registered under duplicate or ghost identities.

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(Published 15 December 2009, 16:05 IST)

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