Aadhaar authentication transactions rise to 2.31 billion in March

Aadhaar holders have carried out nearly 2.31 billion authentication transactions in March 2023, underlining the growing usage of Aadhaar and growth of digital economy in the country, according to an official release.

The numbers in March were higher than in February when 2.26 billion authentication transactions were carried out. "While a majority of the authentications transaction numbers were carried out by using biometric fingerprint, it is followed by demographic and OTP authentications," the release said.

Aadhaar e-KYC service continues to play a "stellar role" for banking and non-banking financial services by providing transparent and improved customer experience, and facilitating ease of doing business.

More than 311.8 million e-KYC transactions were carried out during March 2023, a rise of over 16.3 per cent against February levels.

Adoption of e-KYC has significantly reduced customer acquisition cost of entities like financial institutions, telecom service providers and others.

The cumulative number of Aadhaar e-KYC transactions so far has moved past 14.7 billion by the end March 2023.

Aadhaar saturation among adult population continues to be near universal, it said, adding that during March, over 21.47 million Aadhaars were updated following requests from the residents as against 16.8 million such updates in February 2023.

"In March 2023, 219.3 million last mile banking transactions were made possible through AePS (Aadhaar Enabled Payment System) and the network of micro ATMs," the release said noting AePS is enabling financial inclusion for those at the bottom of the income pyramid.

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