Internet giant Yahoo today offered to be part of India's plan to provide citizens with unique identity numbers, a project headed by IT czar Nandan Nilekani, but said it was not looking for commercial gains.

Yahoo's worldwide Chief Executive Officer Carol Bartz today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and expressed interest to partner the government in the project.

Click here for Cloud Computing

Also Read   Related Stories News Now - Choosing the right technique - Internet body petitions CCI on telephony - Icahn resigns from Yahoo! board: spokeswoman - Yahoo! posts 3-fold jump in net income - On the move, in style - Gmail No.1 E-mail Service in India

Also Read   Related Stories News Now - Weekly: Uptrend continues, broader markets outperform - Profit-booking may drag markets this week: analysts - SC pulls up Sebi for leaking Sahara's proposal to media - Now, Sebi catches social networking fever - Foreign investors press 'sell' button on Indian banks More

However, the US-headquartered IT firm said it was not looking at making commercial gains from the project.

"There is no commercial interest involved in offering Yahoo's services for the UID project... We have been in India for many years. It is time to pay back to the nation," Yahoo India (R&D) VP and CEO Shovick Mukherjee said.

The project aims to provide a Unique Identification Number to the citizens, numbering over 1 billion.

Yahoo India has a major presence in India. The company claims that three out of four Indians access the Internet through Yahoo, which offers search engine, email and social networking services, among others. Yahoo processes about 500 billion emails every month, Bartz added.

Earlier, software giant Microsoft had offered to be a part of this ambitious project.

Taking on rival Google, Bartz said while Google gets all its revenues from search, for Yahoo, search is just a part of the business.

"If you compare us to anyone may be the ones who are just a bit closer are MSN and AOL."

She added that Yahoo have more mobile search than Google. "Our software runs on 1,900 differrent mobile platforms. We have tie-ups with virtually all mobile carriers."

Yahoo has entered into a search partnership with Microsoft, which had attempted to overtake the Internet company.

Both companies, Yahoo with search engine, and Microsoft with Bing, have lost marketshare to Google, which controls the majority of Internet search.

Asked about Yahoo's recent television commercial which is being aired, Bartz said post the televised advertisement, time spent on Yahoo sites has gone up by 14 per cent. "We sell advertisements, we feel even we should also advertise," she added.

New Ipad Application :Business Standard's all new IPad App Click here to download for free Other Stories      - Weekly: Uptrend continues, broader markets outperform - Profit-booking may drag markets this week: analysts - SC pulls up Sebi for leaking Sahara's proposal to media - Now, Sebi catches social networking fever - Foreign investors press 'sell' button on Indian banks

Tags : Yahoo | UID project | Internet giant | Nandan Nilekani | UID project   Read Business news in  Advertisements -  Now property search gets more exciting than ever before! -  Office 365 for professionals and small businesses. -  India's No. 1 Property Site. Click here to know more.. -  Improve Patient Care & Experience. Click here to know more -  Health is Wealth..... Insurance + Savings... Know More...