Aadhaar Act has strong privacy provisions, says Amitabh Kant

Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant predicted that there would be no concept of physical banking in future

Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant on Thursday said the Aadhaar Act has strong privacy provisions while dismissing fears that there is possibility of misuse of data.

"The Aadhaar Act has strong privacy provisions. I am a great believer in privacy of data," the Niti Aayog CEO said while replying to a query at the Hero Mindmine Summit here.

Kant, however, cautioned that India definitely needs to take care of privacy in future.

"I think India in future needs to move towards a strong Privacy Act," he said.

His statement comes in the wake of sharing of personal details of ace cricket M S Dhoni on social media by an agency that helps the Unique Identification Authority of India enrol citizens for Aadhaar.

About increase in digital transactions, Kant suggested elite Indians need to change their mindset.

"People in Krishna Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh and tribals of Jharkhand are able to adopt digital transactions more than elites of Delhi," he pointed out.

The Niti Aayog CEO predicted that there would be no concept of physical banking in future. "Data analytics would enable banks to lend to people. We have biometrics of a billion people which no other country has," Kant added.