UIDAI to charge for value-added services: Nilekani

"We will not charge anything for the basic authentication. But we have plans to charge for value-added services, like address verification by institutions like banks, mobile companies among others", he said.
He pointed out that presently these companies are spending a lot of money for manual verification. Through UIDAI, they can verify certain details at a very low cost," he said.

He said UIDAI is planning to develop a 'demand-driven approach' to bring people to its centres for enrollment to create database for the project.
"We are developing a demand-driven approach to bring maximum people to us and will ensure that those who enroll in this project will get some benefits (from the number)," he said.

The Authority would partner with State Governments, banks, income-tax and passport offices, among others, Nilekani said, adding "we plan to make this enrollment a bi-product for getting some other services."
The UIDAI is planning to build a platform for online ID authentication, he said.

"So far, no other country in the world has come out with an online ID authentication programme. The biometric features of the UID card can be used for online ID authentication. This is a platform for innovation which will make it easy for people to get services," Nilekani said.
Apart from verifying a person, the number does not give any right to anybody, he explained.
"Our mission is to verify a person. More than that the number gives nobody any right. But this number is essential for every service. We will make sure that the biometric signature is unique," he said.

Referring to the privacy of people, he pointed out, "we will make sure that there are institutional, legal, social and technical safeguards. Nobody can read the data base. It can just verify and would contain only the basic information."