Support to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to improve the usage of Aadhaar

• Aug 14, 2025
• 2 min

India’s digital identity landscape has advanced significantly in recent years. Today, Aadhaar serves as a foundational layer for digital public infrastructure and has seen widespread use in government-to-person (G2P) transfers and other services. Yet, its adoption for offline authentication and face authentication remains limited. Furthermore, fragmented ecosystem engagement, complex user experiences, and a lack of actionable data insights have hindered progress. These challenges restrict the UIDAI’s ability to adapt to evolving user needs and use emerging technologies.

To support the next phase of Aadhaar’s evolution, the UIDAI engaged MSC to identify innovative use cases, strengthen citizen-centric service delivery, and integrate global lessons to enhance Aadhaar’s impact and reach.

MSC provided strategic advisory and research support across several key areas. The team developed the strategy for the UIDAI’s Innovation Sandbox and supported its implementation to promote innovation in authentication and e-KYC use cases. MSC conducted a comprehensive assessment of Aadhaar’s offline usage, public awareness, policy environment, and operational challenges. In addition, MSC reviewed grievance management mechanisms and citizen engagement channels to identify areas for improvement.

The project included a study of the authentication ecosystem, which included Authentication User Agencies (AUA) and Authentication Service Agencies (ASA), to identify pain points in onboarding, transaction processes, and policy compliance. MSC also analyzed Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) delivery to understand user experience and governance practices, and benchmarked the Aadhaar system against global digital ID systems.

The project contributed to significant improvements in Aadhaar usage and innovation. Aadhaar-based face authentication transactions increased fourfold and reached more than 154 million monthly authentications by May 2025. The number of entities using Aadhaar or e-KYC rose by 10%, which added approximately 550 new users. The UIDAI launched the Innovation Sandbox and SDK BioChallenge, which created a platform for ecosystem players to test and benchmark new Aadhaar-based solutions.

The UIDAI also began publishing Aadhaar-related datasets on the Open Government Data Portal to support global research. As part of its global engagement strategy, the UIDAI collaborated with 10+ countries and institutions, which included Tanzania, South Africa, ID4Africa, and MOSIP, to share lessons and insights from Aadhaar.

The Unique Identification Authority of India and the Gates Foundation​ commissioned the project.