92 Out of 100 Indian adults have Aadhaar cards

That’s good news for those who wish to see India as a developed nation, with its residents having unique identities so that they can be entitled to several benefits under welfare programmes by Central and State governments.

In the latest data accumulated yesterday, around 92% of India's adult population above 18 years now has valid Aadhaar numbers, making it a significant landmark.

This achievement by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) means that now, a major part of India's adult population can access benefits through Aadhaar-linked bank accounts, which should significantly reduce leakages that happen because of ghost and duplicate identities.

As per the government's estimates, most social sector schemes suffer from suspect beneficiaries, amounting to 10-15% of the recipients. While subsidies offered by the Centre add up to around 3.5 lakh crore a year, use of Aadhaar cards can significantly reduce the risk of impersonation, saving 35,000-60,000 crore in all regions, annually.

Banks are stressing on Aadhaar identities for quick verification because they are done with the biometric confirmations, which helps in the reduction of time and costs. Because these cards are linked to governments, banks can easily identify accounts that will receive government assistance so that loan seeker's financial status can be identified.

In the past 6 years, the government has spent 7,100 crore in rolling out the ambitious scheme, which aims at providing every resident an unique identification number.

The initiative was recently applauded by the World Bank, which estimated that it was saving the government about $1 billion (650 crore) annually.

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