PIB TrackerUIDAI onboards 300 entities for Aadhaar offline verification
UIDAI has onboarded 300 Offline Verification Seeking Entities since January, from hotels to the gig economy, while the Aadhaar App nears 7.5 crore downloads with 4.6 crore biometric lock/unlock transactions.
What happened
- UIDAI has onboarded 300 Offline Verification Seeking Entities (OVSEs) since the offline verification mechanism was rolled out in January.
- The entities span hotels, hospitality, healthcare, education, events, the gig economy and consumer-facing players; UIDAI calls the mechanism secure, consent-based and paperless.
- The release says the model reflects privacy-first verification that gives users control and follows data minimisation under the DPDP Act.
- The Aadhaar App has nearly 7.5 crore downloads, with over 86 lakh mobile number updates, 22.16 lakh address updates and 40.25 lakh email updates made without visiting a centre.
- Residents have made 4.6 crore biometric lock/unlock transactions and 3.61 lakh Aadhaar lock/unlock transactions through the App.
For Prelims
- UIDAI: a statutory authority under the Aadhaar Act, 2016, administered by the Ministry of Electronics and IT; it issues the 12-digit Aadhaar number and runs authentication.
- Offline verification: the resident shows a QR code or digitally signed document and the entity checks the signature, with no real-time call to UIDAI's database; PIB 2253755 calls this 'Show, Share and Verify'.
- K.S. Puttaswamy (Aadhaar), 2018: a five-judge Bench upheld the Act but struck down Section 57 to the extent that it let private companies demand Aadhaar authentication under contract.
- Right to privacy: a nine-judge Bench in K.S. Puttaswamy (2017) held privacy a fundamental right under Article 21 and as part of the freedoms in Part III.
- DPDP Act, 2023: regulates the processing of digital personal data on the basis of consent, with listed legitimate uses, and creates the Data Protection Board of India.
- Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Act, 2019: allowed voluntary use of Aadhaar authentication, with the holder's consent, to establish identity.
- Locking features: biometric lock stops fingerprint, iris and face authentication until the holder unlocks it; Aadhaar lock stops the number being used for authentication.
- Virtual ID: a 16-digit revocable number a resident can give in place of the 12-digit Aadhaar number, an earlier UIDAI privacy feature.
For UPSC: OVSE: UIDAI onboarded 300 since January; Aadhaar App nearly 7.5 crore downloads; 4.6 crore biometric lock/unlock transactions; consent-based, paperless offline verification (DPDP Act).
What it is NOT: The release does not name any of the 300 entities, say how many verifications they have run, or give cost, error or fraud figures. It does not explain what stops an entity from keeping a copy of the document it verifies, or what remedy a resident has if it does. The DPDP Act is cited without its Rules or the Data Protection Board. The 100-entity figure from April and earlier download milestones are not repeated, so the growth rate cannot be read from this release alone.
For Mains
Syllabus: GS2.15 · GS2.9 · Linkage L1
Anchor
Identity checks still run on photocopies, hotel registers and exam-centre queues. Offline verification promises proof of identity without a central lookup, which tests whether digital identity can be useful and private at once.
Substantiation (data)
UIDAI has onboarded 300 OVSEs since January, up from 100 in April (PIB 2253755). The App has nearly 7.5 crore downloads, 4.6 crore biometric lock/unlock transactions and over 86 lakh mobile number updates done from home.
Position
Consent-based, signature-checked verification cuts the copying of Aadhaar cards and the cost of handling paper, while lock features give residents a switch they control.
Counterpoint
The Supreme Court barred contract-based private use of Aadhaar authentication in 2018. The new route rests on consent and on how entities behave, and the release has no audit, penalty or complaint data to show how misuse is caught.
Way forward
Publish the OVSE register, require deletion of verified copies, tie entities to DPDP duties and the Data Protection Board, report verification volumes and complaints, and keep a non-digital route for residents without smartphones.
Conclusion
Three hundred entities show demand. Trust will rest on how little data they keep and how fast a resident can see misuse.
Deploys into: Digital public infrastructure and e-governance · Privacy and data protection · Statutory authorities and identity · Ease of living
Ministry of Electronics & IT · 2026-11-05 · PRID 2333177 · PIB source ↗