The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is gearing up to roll out a new Aadhaar authentication portal next week. This will make it easier for businesses and government agencies to get the authentication access they need. This initiative follows the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) announcing the Aadhaar Authentication for Good Governance (Social Welfare, Innovation, Knowledge) Amendment Rules, 2025 on January 31.

 

Private Sector Gets a Boost with Aadhaar Authentication

With this amendment, Aadhaar authentication is now available for private companies in various fields like e-commerce, travel, fintech, healthcare, and hospitality, in addition to government services. UIDAI has issued Aadhaar numbers to 1.41 billion residents, and there have been over 14,000 crore authentication transactions so far. Right now, more than 550 organizations, including over 230 in the banking and financial services sector, are utilizing Aadhaar authentication.

 

How the New Portal Will Operate

The upcoming portal will let businesses and government entities apply for Aadhaar authentication access by presenting their use cases to the appropriate ministry or department. UIDAI will evaluate these applications and make recommendations, after which MeitY will give the final green light. Once approved, the relevant ministry will inform the entity, allowing them to access Aadhaar authentication services.

 

At the Bharat FinTech Summit in Mumbai, Manish Bhardwaj, the Deputy Director General of UIDAI, talked about how expanding Aadhaar authentication can boost customer verification, cut down on fraud, and make digital onboarding a breeze. He pointed out that the BFSI sector has already seen the perks of Aadhaar-based e-KYC and digital banking, and now other industries can jump on board to ramp up security and efficiency.

 

With a whopping 90 million Aadhaar authentication transactions happening every day, UIDAI is optimistic that this new system will speed up digital transformation in various sectors, making identity verification quicker and safer.