Use Aadhaar Freely
Can a fraudster withdraw money from my Aadhaar linked bank account if he knows my Aadhaar number or has my Aadhaar card? Open or Close
Just by knowing your Aadhaar number or Aadhaar linked bank account, no one can withdraw money from Aadhaar linked bank account.
There are many agencies that simply accept physical copy of Aadhaar and do not carry out any biometric or OTP authentication or verification. Is this a good practice? Open or Close
No, in this connection MeitY has issued detailed instructions to all Government Ministries/Departments vide office memorandum no 10(22)/2017-EG-II(VOL-1) dated 19.06.2023.
Does linking my bank account, PAN, and other services with Aadhaar make me vulnerable? Open or Close
No. UIDAI does not have visibility of linking of your Aadhaar with any other services. Concern departments such as bank, income tax etc. do not share any information of Aadhaar number holder neither UIDAI stores any such informations.
Recently, UIDAI has issued an advisory asking people not to share their Aadhaar number openly in the public domain especially on Social Media or other public platforms. Does this mean that I should not use Aadhaar freely? Open or Close
You should use your Aadhaar without any hesitation for proving your identity and doing transactions, just like you use your bank account number, PAN card, debit card, credit card, etc., wherever required. What UIDAI has advised is that Aadhaar card should be freely used for proving identity and doing transactions, but should not be put on public platforms like Twitter, Facebook, etc. People give their debit card or credit card details or cheque (which has bank account number) when they purchase goods, or pay school fee, water, electricity, telephone and other utility bills, etc. Similarly, you can freely use your Aadhaar to establish your identity as and when required without any fear. While using Aadhaar, you should do the same level of due diligence as you do in case of other ID cards – not more, not less.
Why am I asked to verify Bank account, Demat account, PAN and various other services with Aadhaar? Open or Close
Aadhaar verification/authentication is governed by the sections of Aadhaar Act, 2016, under which the use case has been notified by the concerned Ministry/Department for providing services.
I gave my Aadhaar card to a service provider for proving my identity. Can anyone harm me by knowing and misusing my Aadhaar number? Open or Close
No. Just, by knowing your Aadhaar number, no one can harm you. To prove your identity, Aadhaar number is verfied/authenticated by agencies through various modes as prescribed under Aadhaar Act, 2016.
If Aadhaar has to be freely used for proving identity and it is safe to do so, then why has UIDAI advised people not to put up their Aadhaar number in Social Media or public domain? Open or Close
You use PAN card, debit card, credit card, bank cheques wherever required. But do you put these details openly on internet and social media such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.? Obviously no! You do not put such personal details unnecessarily in public domain so that there is no unwarranted invasion attempt on your privacy. The same logic needs to be applied in case of uses of Aadhaar.
E-Aadhaar
What supporting software needed to view e-Aadhaar? Open or Close
Resident needs 'Adobe Reader' to view digitally verified e-Aadhaar. To install Adobe Reader in the System visit https://get.adobe.com/reader/
How to validate digital signatures in e-Aadhaar? Open or Close
Please visit Aadhaar YouTube Channel and watch tutorial link onhttps://youtu.be/aVNfUNIccZs?si=ByW1O6BIPMwc0seL
What Is the Password of e-Aadhaar? Open or Close
Password of eAadhaar is a combination of the first 4 letters of name in CAPITAL and the year of birth (YYYY).
For Example:
Example 1
Name: SURESH KUMAR
Year of Birth: 1990
Password: SURE1990
Example 2
Name: SAI KUMAR
Year of Birth: 1990
Password: SAIK1990
Example 3
Name: P. KUMAR
Year of Birth: 1990
Password: P.KU1990
Example 4
Name: RIA
Year of Birth: 1990
Password: RIA1990
What is e-Aadhaar? Open or Close
e-Aadhaar is a password protected electronic copy of Aadhaar, digitally signed by UIDAI.
Is e-Aadhaar equally valid like physical copy of Aadhaar? Open or Close
As per Aadhaar Act, e-Aadhaar is equally valid like Physical Copy of Aadhaar for all purposes. For validity of eAadhaar, please visit UIDAI circular- https://uidai.gov.in/images/uidai_om_on_e_aadhaar_validity.pdf
What is Masked Aadhaar? Open or Close
Masked Aadhaar implies replacing of first 8 digits of Aadhaar number with “xxxx-xxxx” while only last 4 digits of the Aadhaar Number are visible.
From where an Aadhaar number holder can download e-Aadhaar? Open or Close
Aadhaar Number holder can download e-Aadhaar by visiting UIDAI's MyAadhaar portal -https://myaadhaar.uidai.gov.inor by using mAadhaar app for mobile phones.
How can an Aadhaar Number holder download e-Aadhaar? Open or Close
An Aadhaar Number holder can download e-Aadhaar by following three ways.
By Using Enrollment Number
By Using Aadhaar No
By using VID
OTP for downloading eAadhaar will be received on registered mobile number.
mAadhaar FAQs
Is it compulsory to have registered mobile number to use mAadhaar? Open or Close
No. Anyone in India with a smartphone can install and use mAadhaar App. Although for creating the Aadhaaar profile in mAadhaar, registered mobile number is required.
Without an Aadhaar registered mobile number resident will be able to avail only a few of the services such as Order Aadhaar PVC card, Locate Enrolment Center, Verify Aadhaar, Scanning QR code etc.
Is it compulsory to have registered mobile number to use mAadhaar services? Open or Close
No. Anyone with a smartphone can install and use mAadhaar App.
Without a registered mobile number, Aadhaar number holder will be able to avail only few services such as Order Aadhaar PVC card, Locate Enrolment Center, Verify Aadhaar, Scanning QR code etc.
However registered mobile number is mandatory to create the profile in mAadhaar and use the same as digital identity and avail all other Aadhaar services. The OTP will be sent only to registered mobile for creating the profile in mAadhaar.
Where can mAadhaar be used? Open or Close
mAadhaar app can be used anywhere anytime within India. mAadhaar is more than Aadhaar card in a wallet. On one hand the mAadhaar profile is accepted as a valid ID proof and on the other, resident can use the features in the app to share their eKYC or QR code with service providers who sought Aadhaar verification of their customers before providing Aadhaar services.
How resident can create profile on m-Aadhaar App? Open or Close
Only someone with an Aadhaar linked to a registered mobile number can create Aadhaar profile in the mAadhaar App. They can register their profile in an App installed in any smartphone. However the OTP will be sent to only their registered mobile. Steps to register Aadhaar profile are given below:
- Launch the app.
- Tap on the Register Aadhaar tab on the top of main dashboard
- Create a 4 digit Pin/Password(memorize this password, as it will be required to access profile)
- Provide Valid Aadhaar & enter valid Captcha
- Enter Valid OTP and submit
- The profile should get registered
- The registered tab would now display the registered Aadhaar Name
- Tap on My Aadhaar tab on the bottom menu
- Enter 4-digit Pin/Password
- My Aadhaar Dashboard appears
How resident can view the profile? Open or Close
The profile can be viewed by tapping on the profile summary on the top (profile image, name and Aadhaar number on the cyan tab) in the main dashboard.
Is there any process to update the Aadhaar details through mAadhaar App , such like DOB, Mobile number , address etc. and completer process to be added? Open or Close
No, the facility to update demographic details such as Name, DoB, Mobile number aren not available in the mAadhaar app. Only address update via document facility is currently available.
However the demographics updates features may be included in future releases.
Is there any process to update the Aadhaar details such as DOB, Mobile number , address etc. through mAadhaar App? Open or Close
No, mAadhaar app can be used to update address only.
Aadhaar Paperless Offline e-kyc
Can this Offline Paperless eKYC document be shared to other entities by the Service Provider? Open or Close
Service Providers shall not share, publish or display either XML or Share Code or its contents with anyone else. Any non-compliance of these actions shall invite actions under Sections 29(2), 29 (3), 29(4) and 37 of The Aadhaar Act, 2016 (as amended) and sub regulation 1A of regulation 25, regulation 14A of The Aadhaar (Authentication and Offline Verification) Regulation, 2021 and regulation 6 and 7 of The Aadhaar (Sharing of Information) Regulation, 2016.
How this Aadhaar Offline Paperless eKYC document is different from the other identification documents produced offline by residents? Open or Close
Identity verification can simply be accomplished by providing an identity document like PAN card, Passport etc to the service provider. However, all these documents, which may be used for identification can still be forged and faked which may or may not be possible to verify offline instantaneously. The document verifier has no technological means to verify the authenticity of the document or the information it contains and has to trust the document producer. Whereas, the XML file generated by the Aadhaar number holder using Aadhaar Paperless Offline e-KYC is digitally signed document using UIDAI digital signature. Thus, the service provider can verify the demographic contents of the file and certify it to be authentic when doing the offline verification
How will service providers use Aadhaar Offline e-KYC? Open or Close
The process of Aadhaar Offline e-KYC Verification by Service Provider is:
- Once service provider obtains the ZIP file, it extracts the XML file using the password (share code) provided by the resident.
- The XML file will contain the demographic details such as Name, DOB, Gender and Address. Photo is in base 64 encoded format which can be rendered directly using any utility or plane HTML page. Email Address and Mobile number are hashed.
- Service Provider has to collect Email Address and Mobile number from residents and perform below operations in order to validate the hash:
Mobile Number:
Hashing logic: Sha256(Sha256(Mobile+ShareCode))*number of times of last digit of Aadhaar Number
Example :
Mobile number: 9800000002
Aadhaar Number: 123412341234
Share Code: Abc@123
Sha256(Sha256(9800000002+ Abc@123))*4
In case if Aadhaar Number ends with Zero or 1 (123412341230/1) it will be hashed one time.
Sha256(Sha256(9800000002+ Abc@123))*1Email Address:
Hashing Logic: This is a simple SHA256 hash of the email without any salt
- Entire XML is digitally signed and Service Provider can validate the XML file using the signature and public key available on the UIDAI website.(https://uidai.gov.in/images/uidai_offline_publickey_26022019.cer).
Where can I find the Public Certificate for Digital Signature validation? Open or Close
Public certificate for Digital signature validation can be downloaded from here.
How to share this Paperless Offline eKYC document with the service provider? Open or Close
Residents can share the XML ZIP file along with the Share Code to the service provider as per their mutual convenience.
Who are the users of this Aadhaar Paperless Offline e-KYC? Open or Close
Any Aadhaar number holder who desires to establish his/her identity to any service provider (OVSE) using digitally signed XML downloaded from UIDAI website can be a user of this service. The service provider should have provisions of providing this Aadhaar Paperless Offline e-KYC at their facility and do the offline verification
How to generate Offline Aadhaar XML? Open or Close
The process of generating Aadhaar Offline e-KYC is explained below:
• Go to URL https://myaadhaar.uidai.gov.in/offline-ekyc
• Enter ‘Aadhaar Number’ or ‘VID’ and enter mentioned ‘Security Code’ in screen, then click on ‘Send OTP’. The OTP will be sent to the registered Mobile Number for the given Aadhaar number or VID. OTP will be available on m-Aadhaar mobile Application of UIDAI. Enter the OTP received. Enter a Share Code which be the password for the ZIP file and click on ‘Download’ button
• The Zip file containing the digitally signed XML will be downloaded to device wherein the above mentioned steps have been performed.
The Offline Aadhaar XML can also be downloaded from mAadhaar app.
What is Aadhaar Paperless Offline e-KYC? Open or Close
It is a secure sharable document which can be used by any Aadhaar number holder for offline verification of Identification.
A resident desirous of using this facility shall generate his/her digitally signed Offline XML by accessing UIDAI website. The Offline XML will contain Name, Address, Photo, Gender, DOB, hash of registered Mobile Number, hash of registered Email Address and reference id which contains last 4 digits of Aadhaar Number followed by time stamp. It will provide Offline Aadhaar Verification facility to service providers/Offline Verification Seeking Entity (OVSE) without the need to collect or store Aadhaar number.
