India opens Aadhaar Authentication to private sector

By Gloria Methri

In a move to enhance digital services and innovation, the Indian government has extended Aadhaar authentication to private entities under the Aadhaar Authentication for Good Governance (Social Welfare, Innovation, Knowledge) Amendment Rules, 2025.

Starting January 31, 2025, non-government entities can leverage Aadhaar authentication to streamline services across sectors such as eCommerce, travel, tourism, hospitality, and healthcare. Announced at the 3rd Edition of Bharat Fintech Summit 2025 by Manish Bhardwaj, Deputy Director General of UIDAI, the initiative aims to improve access to services while ensuring regulatory compliance.

With 250 successful use cases already, UIDAI plans to launch a portal for onboarding private entities. “The ambit of KYC has been expanded, and in the coming months, we will see many new use cases emerge, including in transport, entertainment, and employment services,” Bhardwaj said.

UIDAI also announced the success of mobile-based face authentication for KYC, a development that will make customer onboarding seamless. The authority is working on enabling customised KYC verification, allowing private entities to verify specific attributes.

“The vision of Aadhaar was to provide digital identity to every Indian. It should have been a verifiable identity, unique, biometric. Through this identity, it was intended to reach out to the billions of people who had no identity documents of their own and provide social welfare benefits,” Bhardwaj added.

Launched in 2010, UIDAI has played a crucial role in India’s financial inclusion journey, issuing 141 crore Aadhaar numbers and processing 14,000 crore authentication transactions. The initiative has fueled the rise of digital banking, including Jan Dhan accounts and the development of the India Stack, culminating in the launch of UPI in 2015.

“This initiative will be a much-needed boost for the BFSI sector. With Aadhaar-based authentication and face recognition for KYC, businesses can scale rapidly while ensuring security and compliance,” said Sameer Singh Jaini, CEO of The Digital Fifth, which hosted the Bharat Fintech Summit in Mumbai.

The Bharat Fintech Summit brings together experts and innovators from India’s banking, finance, services and insurance industry. An annual industry conference, the summit brings to light new developments and challenges for the industry.