The Indian government has expanded Aadhaar authentication capabilities to private sector entities, enabling them to use face biometric authentication for various services. The development builds upon India’s ongoing digital identity initiatives and represents a significant evolution in the country’s biometric authentication infrastructure, which has processed over 100 billion authentications to date.
Under newly implemented rules, private companies can now leverage Aadhaar face authentication for multiple purposes, including customer onboarding, e-KYC verification, exam registrations, and staff attendance tracking. The expansion follows successful implementations in the public sector, where organizations like India Post have already deployed Aadhaar-based eKYC systems. To support this expansion, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has launched the Aadhaar Good Governance portal (swik.meity.gov.in), which provides detailed guidance and Standard Operating Procedures for entities seeking authentication capabilities.
The expansion is enabled by the Aadhaar Authentication for Good Governance (Social Welfare, Innovation, Knowledge) Amendment Rules, 2025, which extends authentication services to domains including digital trade, tourism, travel, hospitality, and health sectors. The regulatory framework comes as India prepares to mandate biometric authentication for SIM card registration, demonstrating a comprehensive approach to digital identity verification across multiple sectors.
“The launch of the Aadhaar Good Governance portal represents ongoing efforts to expedite the addition of more use cases in governance and ease of living,” said S. Krishnan, Secretary of MeitY. UIDAI CEO Bhuvnesh Kumar noted that Aadhaar continues to facilitate the growth of India’s digital economy, with over one billion Indians having used it for authentication more than 100 billion times.
The implementation follows complex legal precedent, including a 2018 Supreme Court ruling that struck down section 57 of the Aadhaar Act, which had previously restricted private companies from using Aadhaar-based KYC. The current expansion operates within updated regulatory frameworks designed to address these legal parameters while enabling broader authentication services. The careful approach to implementation reflects lessons learned from earlier phases of Aadhaar deployment and addresses previous privacy and security concerns raised by stakeholders.
Sources: Biometric Update, Telecom Talk, Medianama
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