In 2010, India launched Aadhaar Card; 16 years later UIDAI says work underway to take Aadhaar global to benefit NRIs and OCIs

UIDAI is working towards expanding Aadhaar beyond India. (Image for representative purpose only)

India launched its first Aadhaar card in 2010. And sixteen years later, the Aadhaar card which has now become an integral part of important documentation work in the country is now set to go global.The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is working towards expanding Aadhaar beyond India, with a particular focus on allowing non-resident Indians and overseas citizens of India to benefit from the country’s digital identification system, a senior official said on Thursday.Speaking during a fireside chat at Global Fintech Fest 2026, UIDAI CEO Saurabh Vijay said his objective is to build Aadhaar into a best-in-class digital identity infrastructure that can support its expansion internationally.

Aadhaar Card To Go Global

“I think for Aadhaar, the focus now is making Aadhaar international. We really want to work on the interoperability part of it — how to make it more possible. So already some PoCs (proof of concept) are happening.“Our legal framework is also going (in that direction) to make Aadhaar international. We are working on policies to make it (available) for overseas citizens of India (OCIs) so that it brings in more investment,” PTI reported him saying.Vijay also pointed out that the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) had launched three products at the event, adding that some of these could eventually be taken to international markets.UIDAI works closely with NPCI to provide authentication for financial transactions.The authority is also preparing guidelines that would allow small merchants to use Aadhaar-enabled authentication for KYC (know your customer) processes, Vijay said.According to him, Aadhaar-based digital KYC has made customer onboarding easier and has also helped reduce the time taken for onboarding by UIDAI partners.“We are working towards reducing this whole journey and making it more seamless with new products, something like Aadhaar Lite. The guidelines will be out very soon. Already it has been a work in progress,” Vijay said.

Aadhaar Card

Aadhaar is a 12-digit randomly generated identification number issued by the UIDAI to residents of India after completion of the verification process prescribed by it.Any person who is a resident of India can voluntarily enrol for Aadhaar, regardless of age or gender. The enrolment process is completely free and requires the individual to provide limited demographic and biometric information.A person only needs to enrol for Aadhaar once. Following demographic and biometric de-duplication, only one Aadhaar number is generated for an individual. The de-duplication process ensures that each Aadhaar number is unique.Demographic informationThe demographic details collected during enrolment include:

For enrolment based on the Head of Family, the information also includes the name of the Head of Family, the relationship and the Head of Family’s Aadhaar number.In the case of a child’s enrolment, the details required include the Enrolment ID or Aadhaar number of either parent and a Proof of Relationship (PoR) document.Biometric informationThe biometric information collected consists of:

According to UIDAI, Aadhaar can be verified online in a cost-effective manner. Its unique identification and de-duplication capabilities are designed to prevent duplicate and fake identities.The number can also serve as a basis or primary identifier for implementing various government welfare schemes and programmes, helping improve service delivery, transparency and governance.The programme is described as unique globally because it provides a state-of-the-art digital and online identity free of cost to people on such a large scale. It also has the potential to transform how services are delivered across the country.An Aadhaar number does not contain any intelligence and is not designed to profile individuals on the basis of caste, religion, income, health or geography. While Aadhaar serves as proof of identity, possessing an Aadhaar number does not establish citizenship or domicile.Aadhaar is also positioned as a policy instrument for social and financial inclusion, reforms in public sector service delivery, fiscal budget management and greater convenience for people. It is intended to support hassle-free, people-centric governance.The Aadhaar number can function as a permanent Financial Address and support financial inclusion among underprivileged and weaker sections of society. In this context, it is also regarded as an instrument of distributive justice and equality.The Aadhaar identity platform is one of the key pillars of ‘Digital India’, providing every resident of the country with a unique identity. The programme has crossed several milestones and is the world’s largest biometrics-based identification system.With features such as uniqueness, authentication, Financial Address and e-KYC, the Aadhaar identity platform enables the government to directly reach residents while delivering a range of subsidies, benefits and services using the resident’s Aadhaar number.