Govt to test UIDAI's e-KYC for mobile SIM

Under this service, the credentials of a person will be verified online by a service provider like banks or telecom operators

Getting mobile SIM activated for Aadhaar number holders may be a matter of few minutes in the coming days as government has decided to launch a pilot project to test UIDAI's electronic-Know-Your-Customer service.

Under the Unique Identification Authority of India's e-KYC service, the credentials of a person will be verified online by a service provider like banks or telecom operators on the basis of Aadhaar number and biometric details.

At present, it takes at least two day to activate a mobile SIM by a telecom service provider after receiving all required documents and verifications of the customer's credentials.

The pilot would be done in the five telecom circles in association with five operators - Airtel (Lucknow), Reliance (Bhopal), Idea (Delhi), Vodafone (Kolkata), BSNL (Banglore), as per a notification of the Department of Telecom.

Under the pilot, the customer seeking a mobile connection would have to provide Aadhaar number to the authorised sales agent of a telecom service provider.

The agent will online authorise UIDAI by way of biometric authentication using customer's fingers or iris scan to provide his demographic data and UIDAI will provide same in a digitally signed and encrypted format along with Aadhaar number to the telecom service provider.

"Once this pilot is successfully implemented, the government can extend this facility in other part of the country," a source said.

However, as per the notification, the telecom companies would also continue the existing procedure of verifying the customers' proof of identity and residence.

The source said the telecom department is going ahead with the pilot project despite Home Ministry's reservations as the Prime Minister's Office has asked to link mobile SIM with Aadhaar number.

The pilot would be launched by the telecom service providers sometime in January. At present UIDAI provides free e-KYC service to the service providers.

Telecom companies are also keen to use the facility as they have been paying huge penalties for failing to meet the KYC norms.

The instrument which can be connected to any mobile phone and would not cost more than Rs 2,000 per unit.