New delhi: The Centre told Parliament on Friday that the Aadhaar programme has cost the government thousands of crores since it began in 2009, with expenditure exceeding Rs 1,600 crore in some recent financial years as the biometric ID program expanded to nearly all Indians. In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Jitin Prasada, the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, said that Aadhaar has become the largest biometric identity program in the world with nearly 134 crore live Aadhaar numbers.
The government expenditure on the Aadhaar program began at Rs 26.21 crore in 2009-10 and increased over the years. Expenditure increased to Rs 1,187.5 crore in 2011-12.