100 MILLION AADHAR NUMBERS LINKED TO BANK ACCOUNTS THUS FAR, SAYS UIDAI

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Monday said the number of Aadhar numbers that have been linked to bank accounts had touched 100 million, enabling these individuals to digitally receive subsidies and benefits under government schemes.

   

Issuance of Aadhars crossed the 720 million-mark as on December 12. The individuals can benefit from this system as it is portable across any bank in the country and the beneficiaries can access these subsidies even if they move to another part of the country, making the whole process hassle-free.

 As many as 333 banks are live on Aadhar platform. These are using Aadhar payment bridge for financial transactions. UIDAI said establishing a link between an Aadhar number and a bank account makes it easy for the Government to identify genuine beneficiaries and route welfare payments and subsidies directly into their bank accounts.

As on December 9, the Aadhar Payment Bridge saw transactions crossing the 7.94 crore-mark across government welfare programmes such as Direct Benefit Transfer for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MNREGA) scheme, Tribal welfare schemes and Pensions, amounting to Rs 5,151.5 crore, it said.

The Aadhar identity platform is the largest biometric database in the world and serves users ranging from LPG consumers, MNREGA workers, public distribution system, remittance and scholarship beneficiaries, etc. - all using their Aadhar number to avail benefits.

For linking Aadhar number to their bank account, the residents need to provide a copy of their Aadhar letter or their e-Aadhar to the bank branch in which they maintain the account.

Once the account is seeded with Aadhar number, it will be used by government departments to transfer subsidies directly into Aadhar linked bank account, the statement issued by UIDAI added.

Residents can check status of the Aadhar-Bank account linkage by dialling *99*99# on their mobile phone. This facility is provided by National Payments Corporation of India at a cost of Rs 1.50 an enquiry.