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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Just by knowing your Aadhaar number or Aadhaar linked bank account, no one can withdraw money from Aadhaar linked bank account.
Please visit Aadhaar YouTube Channel and watch tutorial link on https://youtu.be/aVNfUNIccZs?si=ByW1O6BIPMwc0seL
Resident needs 'Adobe Reader' to view digitally verified e-Aadhaar. To install Adobe Reader in the System visit https://get.adobe.com/reader/
Password of eAadhaar is a combination of the first 4 letters of name in CAPITAL and the year of birth (YYYY).
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
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.
An Aadhaar Number holder can download e-Aadhaar by following three ways. By Using Enrollment Number By Using Aadhaar No By using VIDOTP for downloading eAadhaar will be received on registered mobile number.
Aadhaar Number holder can download e-Aadhaar by visiting UIDAI's MyAadhaar portal - https://myaadhaar.uidai.gov.in/genricDownloadAadhaar/en or by using mAadhaar app for mobile phones.
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
e-Aadhaar is a password protected electronic copy of Aadhaar, digitally signed by UIDAI.
No, mAadhaar app can be used to update address only.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
Public certificate for Digital signature validation can be downloaded from here.
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
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.
The process of Aadhaar Offline e-KYC Verification by Service Provider is:
Residents can share the XML ZIP file along with the Share Code to the service provider as per their mutual convenience.
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
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.
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.
