News and insight into biometric identification and authentication

Three consortia selected to setup and run portions of India’s UID system

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

India’s Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), a government agency created to manage the country’s new UID system that will establish biometric profiles and related ID numbers for all the country’s citizens, has chosen three consortia made up of various biometric, security and technology companies to create, setup and run a system that will ensure the UID numbers are not duplicated, according to a Live Mint article.

The leaders of the three consortia chosen are Accenture and MindTree; Mahindra Satyam and Sagem Morpho Security; and Hewlett-Packard, L-1 Identity Solutions and 4G Identity Solutions, but a formal contract is not expected to be signed until later this week.


With the first wave of UID numbers expected to be rolled out in a month, officials from UIDAI saw he creations of the consortia as a necessary step to mitigate the risk of errors while enrolling the citizens or issuing the numbers.

Further, while the initial phase of the UID system will require significant cross-checking of data, the need for multiple vendors to be performing the task is expected to significantly increase once the UIDAI begins offering biometric verification based off its data to banks and other services.

Read the full story here[end] 

Members of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), a commission setup by the Indian Government to manage the process of providing the country’s citizens with unique ID numbers that correspond to biometrics, are recommending that biometric systems be put into place to protect the large amounts of sensitive data being collected and stored in the country, according to a Times of India article.

read more »

India’s largest life insurance company, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), will become an official registrar for the country’s biometric ID program under an agreement with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the government entity running India’s new biometric ID program.

read more »

Airports in Barcelona and Madrid in Spain have installed self-service kiosks available for use by holders of Spanish citizen ID cards or European Community electronic passports, according to a Pro Security Zone article.

read more »

Electronic government services kiosks called common service centres (CSCs) are being set up in some of India’s more rural areas to help the local citizens better access government services as well as collect biometric data for the country’s unique identity (UID) project and assist in collecting census information for the 2011 census, according to a Live Mint article.

read more »

LaserCard Corp. has received a purchase order to supply additional optical security media cards for Italy’s Citizen ID Card program, known as the Carta d’Identità Elettronica or CIE, to be delivered by November 2010 at a value of $550,000. The ID cards are used by citizens for identification and travel.

read more »

India’s Social Welfare Department has implemented the Beggars Personal Management System to track beggars using biometrics. This effort is to fight recent large-scale deaths and mismanagement within colonies, according to a Deccan Herald article.

read more »