Half of Indians to get UID numbers in five and half years

PATNA: About half of the country's total population will get their unique identification numbers in the next five and half years, Chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), Nandan Nilekani said today.

Over 600 million people would get the numbers, Nilekani told reporters here.

To a question, the co-founder of Infosys, said the authority would begin providing the 16-digit number to the people of Bihar in the next 18 months.

Expressing satisfaction over Bihar's progress in Information Technology and lauding schemes like E-shakti, he said "it is a good sign that the state government is giving due importance to biometric projects."