Unique Identification Authority of India [UIDAI]

As per Nandan Nilekani, the chairman of UID project, UID is not just a number, but it is an identity.

1. What does this unique identification means ?

2. How the society is going to be benefited from this project ?

Within a few weeks we can expect the first set of unique identification numbers to be released. Then in the next 4 to 5 years UID project is supposed to come up with 600 million identifications.

Its around 13 months since they had announced for the first release and they had promised the first release within 12 – 18 months. Hence we can say the project is running as per the schedule.

The budget for this year is around 1900 crore and the overall budget is about 3000 crore for the first 10 million customers. As per Nilekani this is great value for money, because it is giving every Indian an acknowledgement of their existence by the state and this has huge social benefits.

We can consider the UID as a mobile identity. The advantages of UID can be like the advantages of mobile phone over land line. Here every Indian's identity can be verified at any place he is residing. Any body who has the UID will be allowed to open a no frills bank account and this may be sufficient for KYC [Know your client] for lumpsum investments in Mutual Funds too.