Friday, June 11, 2010

204 - First UID rollout could be by August 2010

First UID rollout could be by August 2010

Mumbai: The 12-digit unique identity (UID) number may see the first rollout between August 2010 and February 2011, said UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India) chairman Nandan Nilekani. The intention is to register 600 million people under the project in the coming five years. “We are not sure how many people would be registered in the beginning, but we intend to roll out the UID numbers between August 2010 and February 2011 and the work is on track,” he said.

Setting up of IT infrastructure, including data centres, back-end centres, contact centres for customer services and registration of complaints, content development and enrollment agencies is on also track. Nilekani, however, refused to give details on investments with respect to IT infrastructure in the project. “We would be creating a database of about 1,200 million people, almost 10 times the existing largest database of 120 million people. The eco-system to support such a massive data is being created and is based on service model. We would scale up the existing infrastructure as and when required,” R S Sharma, director general and mission director for UIDAI said.

On Wednesday, the UIDAI signed an memorandum of understanding with the country’s largest insurance provider Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) that has about 21 crore unique customers. LIC would help UIDAI in the collection of data from its existing and new policy holders.