Over 10.97 million mobile numbers were seeded in Aadhaar following requests from residents in the month of February 2023, a jump of more than 93 per cent over the previous month.
According to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), while 5.67 million mobile numbers were seeded following residents application, the number saw a significant climb in February.
The UIDAI has been encouraging residents to link their Aadhaar with mobile number for better and effective communication while availing welfare services and accessing multitude of voluntary services.
The jump is indicative of UIDAI’s continuous encouragement, facilitation, and residents’ willingness to keep their mobile number updated for availing various services. Nearly, 1700 Central and State social welfare direct benefit tansfer (DBT) and good governance schemes have been notified for use of Aadhaar.
There is a growing adoption and usage of Aadhaar across sectors in India. In the month of February alone, 226.29 crore number of Aadhaar authentication transactions were executed, more than 13 per cent growth over January when 199.62 crore such transactions were carried out.
Cumulatively, 9,255.57 crore Aadhaar authentication transactions have been executed so far, by the end of February 2023. While a majority of the authentications transaction numbers were carried out by using fingerprint, it is followed by demographic and OTP.
Similarly, 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 helping in ease of doing business. More than 26.79 crore e-KYC transactions were carried out in the month of February.
Adoption of e-KYC has reduced customer acquisition cost of entities like financial institutions, telecom service providers and others. Cumulatively, Aadhaar e-KYC transactions so far has gone past 1,439.04 crore by the end of February.
Whether it is AePS for last mile banking, Aadhaar enabled DBT for direct fund transfer, e-KYC for identity verification, or authentications, Aadhaar has been playing a key role in supporting the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of Digital India, and enabling ease of living for residents.
During the past decade, Aadhaar number has emerged as a proof of identity of residents in India and it is being used for availing several government schemes and services. Residents who had got their Aadhaar issued 10 years ago, and have never updated after that in these years, such Aadhaar number holders are encouraged to get their documents updated.
Here’s how to link Aadhaar with a mobile number through OTP:
- The first step to link your Aadhaar card with the mobile number is to dial 14546 from the mobile number you want to link.
- After making a call to 14546 you have to choose between Indian or NRI.
- Now you will get an option to give your consent to link Aadhaar with your phone number by pressing 1.
- Enter the 12-digit number of your Aadhaar card and confirm it by pressing 1.
- Soon after pressing 1, you will receive a One-time password (OTP) on your mobile phone.
- Then enter your phone number.
- After you enter your mobile number, you will be asked to give you permission following which your operator will be able to pick your name, photo and date of birth from UIDAI database.
- Now you will receive a SMS with an OTP which you need to type and then press 1 to complete the process.
Here’s how to link Aadhaar with mobile number online:
- In order to link your Aadhaar card with mobile number you can visit an Aadhaar outlet.
- You need to submit a self-attested Xerox copy of your Aadhaar card with your mobile number which you want to get linked.
- Soon you will get an OTP.
- The Aadhaar executive will verify the OTP and ask you to submit your finger impression.
- You will receive a confirmation SMS soon after submitting your finger impression following which you have to type ‘Y’ and tap send to complete the e-KYC.