Record transactions using Aadhaar-based face ID in May

Aadhaar-based face authentication transactions for service delivery are gaining momentum with monthly transactions in May touching an all-time high of 10.6 million, since its launch in October 2021, as per a statement by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Thursday.

This is the second consecutive month to register more than 10 million face authentication transactions. 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 UIDAI said.

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The AI/ML (artificial intelligence 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.

Among many usages, it’s being used for registering beneficiaries under 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’s being used for marking staff attendance at several government departments and for opening bank accounts at a few leading banks via their business correspondents, said the statement.

Among several states, the government of Andhra Pradesh is using Aadhaar based face authentication for Jagananna Vidya Deevena Scheme for fee reimbursement to eligible higher education students and under EBC Nestham scheme for welfare delivery to women from economically backward segments.

Face authentication provides features like ease of usage, 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.

In the month of May, UIDAI executed 14.86 million Aadhaar updates following requests from residents.