Aadhaar App: 300 organisations adopt offline verification system; users can verify identity without photocopies

Getting a hotel room, seeking hospital services may soon become easier, with people no longer required to submit physical photocopies of their Aadhaar cards. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has onboarded 300 organisations under its offline verification system since January, expanding the use of consent-based digital identity verification across various sectors.

The organisations, registered as Offline Verification Seeking Entities (OVSEs), operate across sectors such as hospitality, healthcare, education, events, the gig economy and consumer services. The initiative aims to reduce paperwork, minimise the collection of physical identity documents and lower the risk of personal information being misused.

How will Aadhaar offline verification work?

Under the system, individuals can verify their identity through the Aadhaar App after providing their consent. Users can decide whether to share all their identity details or only selected information, depending on the verification requirement.


Importantly, the process does not involve sharing the individual's 12-digit Aadhaar number with the organisation conducting the verification. It also does not require the organisation to connect to UIDAI's central identity database.

The initiative is part of UIDAI's efforts to encourage hotels, government departments and other service providers to accept digital Aadhaar credentials through the app instead of routinely asking people to submit physical photocopies.

Aadhaar App records 7.5 crore downloads

Alongside the expansion of its offline verification network, the Aadhaar App has also witnessed growing adoption, recording nearly 7.5 crore downloads.

More than 86 lakh people have used the application to update their registered mobile numbers without having to visit an Aadhaar enrolment or update centre.

Aadhaar biometric lock and unlock transactions cross 4.6 crore

The application has also recorded considerable usage of its security features. According to UIDAI, the Aadhaar App has registered 4.6 crore biometric lock and unlock transactions, enabling users to manage access to fingerprint and iris-based authentication.

Additionally, the platform has recorded 3.61 lakh Aadhaar lock and unlock transactions, giving residents another way to control the use of their identity credentials.

UIDAI expands digital Aadhaar verification

The latest expansion follows UIDAI's earlier efforts to bring more organisations into the offline verification network. In April, the authority had announced that its first 100 entities had joined the initiative. The number has now increased to 300 since January.

The growing adoption of digital verification reflects Aadhaar's expanding role beyond government welfare services, with the identity platform increasingly being used for everyday transactions and private-sector services.

[With TOI inputs]