'Nearly 67 crore bank accounts seeded with Aadhaar'

As many as 67 crore of the 110 crore bank accounts in the country are now linked with Aadhaar, the 12-digit unique identification number, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Tuesday.

"Of the 110 crore total bank accounts in the country, about 67 crore bank accounts are linked to Aadhaar," Prasad said, while inaugurating a workshop on Aadhaar services offered by the Common Services Centres or CSCs.

Lauding the contribution of village level entrepreneurs in providing various services, Prasad noted that 22 crore Aadhaar enrolments had been done by the CSCs.

He urged the entrepreneurs not to be deterred by competition from other enrolment agencies, and promised that the CSC business model will continue to evolve as more and more government departments look to take new services and schemes to villages through the network.

The minister said while 10 lakh individuals work at the CSCs at present, he expects this number to increase to one crore in coming 4-5 years, as new services and offerings enhance the appeal and utility of CSCs.