Nandan Nilekani, the Chariman and Visionary of the Unique ID project in India believes that Indians will now demand M,B,A – Mobile, Bank account and Aadhar. Since its launch in August, Aadhaar has enrolled (collected data) 2.5-3.0mn people and issued numbers to 1.5mn people. The enrolments are currently at a run rate of 100,000/day. By 4Q2011, UIDAI expects to start enrolling 1mn people per day.
Aadhaar, one of its most ambitious pilot projects involving Aadhaar enabled bank accounts, UIDAI in Jharkhand has opened over 50,000 bank accounts with 40-50 online banking transactions taking place daily with online authentication as part of the proof of concept , testimony of Aadhaar’s potential to unleash a virtuous cycle of reforms. The transaction time has been brought down from 17 seconds to 7 seconds and the target is to be below 5 seconds. Transactions are timed out in 20 seconds.
The key constraint has been the availability of trained operators to collect data. It is now mandatory to recruit certified operators to reduce data rejection rates. Data rejection rates have dropped from high teens in the first stages to almost 0% now.
Impact to the Bottom of the Pyramid in Social Strata: As scale ramps up and government services and subsidies are delivered by cash transfer or based on Aadhaar, the impact will be huge – Government’s subsidy burden will likely come down, targeted people will get their entitlements, and as sense of social well being and security improves, it will likely unleash a virtual consumption cycle at the bottom of the pyramid.
The impact of UID Card / Aadhaar will be much higher as the Government rolls out and connects 250,000 villages with Broadband network. What say ?
