UIDAI delays face recognition rollout for Aadhaar verification until August 1

New Delhi: The Aadhaar-issuing body UIDAI has delayed the introduction of face recognition facility for authentication by one month to August 1 to get enough time to prepare for a smooth rollout.

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey told PTI that some more time would be needed to prepare for the rollout of the new facility which was earlier planned to be introduced from July 1.

The authority in charge of the national identity system had earlier this year announced it would include face recognition alongside iris or fingerprint scan as a means of verifying users, helping those who face issues in biometric authentication or have worn-out fingerprints.

"We are working on that. From August 1, we should be able to do it. All this is technology, and while we target a date, this is not something as if we are buying things off-the-shelf. These things are being developed...," Pandey said.

The UIDAI wants to be fully prepared; he said adding, "We are trying out best to have this released from August 1".

The UIDAI had said that face authentication would be allowed "only in fusion mode" meaning along with either fingerprint or iris or OTP (one time password) to verify the details of Aadhaar holder. It aims at helping people who face difficulty in biometric authentication due to old age, hard work or worn-out fingerprints, to authenticate their identity for accessing services, benefits and subsidies.

"From August 1, it will be available to user agencies. We will then watch how it performs in the field...If more tuning or adjustment is required, we will do that, and in the next few months, this whole process should get stabilised. We will then make it applicable across all our users," Pandey added.

Asked if there will be a cut-off date for all authentication agencies to have the new facility in place, Pandey said specifying a definite timeframe could be difficult.

"It is a step in a new direction. It is something unprecedented ... Even if we want to do it as early as possible, it is difficult to specify a definite timeframe," he said.