Aadhaar authentication transactions soar to 2.31 billion in March, e-KYC up by 16 per cent

Aadhaar authentication transactions surged to 2.31 billion in March, reflecting the increasing use of Aadhaar and the growth of the digital economy in India. This figure is up from February's 2.26 billion transactions, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Electronics & IT. Most authentication transactions used biometric fingerprints, followed by demographic and OTP authentications.

At BT Mind Rush, Nandan Nilekani, the Chairman of Infosys and former chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) revealed that Aadhaar is being used for 80 million times in a single day. 

The filing by the MEiTY claims that Aadhaar e-KYC service has been particularly useful for banking and non-banking financial services. In March, there were over 311.8 million eKYC transactions, a 16.3 per cent increase from February, bringing the total number of Aadhaar e-KYC transactions to over 14.7 billion.

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Furthermore, the use of e-KYC has also reduced the customer acquisition costs of financial institutions and telecom service providers. Aadhaar saturation among the adult population is almost universal, with over 21.47 million Aadhaars updated in March, according to the filing.

The Aadhaar-enabled DBT for direct fund transfer, Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS) for last-mile banking, authentications, and e-KYC for identity verification have all been successful, according to the statement. The AePS, in particular, has enabled financial inclusion for those at the bottom of the income pyramid, with 219.3 million last-mile banking transactions facilitated in March through the network of micro ATMs.

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