Important Announcement: UIDAI Slashes e-KYC License Fees!

In a much-appreciated move, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has announced a significant reduction of e-KYC authentication license fees for AUAs and KUAs w.e.f. 1st July 2023.

Currently, UIDAI charges AUAs/KUAs a flat license fee of 20 lakhs for 2 years. This is all set to change as UIDAI has now aligned the license fees to the actual number of e-KYC transactions processed by an AUA/KUA.

As per the new regime, the revised license fees will be calculated as follows:

1) For AUAs/ KUAs processing Up to 5 Lakh transactions per year: License fees of Rs. 5 lakh for 2 years.

2) For AUAs/ KUAs processing between 5 lakh – 20 Lakh transactions per year: License fees of Rs. 10 Lakhs for 2 years.

3) For AUAs/ KUAs processing Above 20 Lakh transactions per year: License fees of Rs. 20 Lakhs for 2 years.

Additionally, this notification also enlists some other important points which are as mentioned below

A. Newly onboarded AUAs/KUAs will be granted free access to their pre-production environment for the first three months, provided such AUAs/KUAs move to the production stage within the prescribed time frame.

B. If the entity fails to move into production within three months of the grant of free access to the pre-production environment, it will have to pay a pre-production license fee of Rs. 5 Lakhs which will be valid for a period of 3 months.

C. Entities will be on-boarded based on the transaction estimates provided by them and the license fee shall be charged as per the applicable slab. At the time of renewal of the license if the entity is found to have processed a higher number of transactions, then the differential amount (i.e., the difference between the applicable license fee and the license fee levied initially) will be charged along with an interest of 18% per annum.

D. If the entity has processed a lesser number of transactions compared to the initially submitted transaction estimates no benefit of the lower slab will be extended.

As India’s leading Aadhaar-based Digital Identity Solutions company, at ECS we wouldn’t have been more happier about these new announcements. We are confident that this announcement will provide a significant boost to organisations looking to integrate e-KYC processes to streamline their customer onboarding experience.

Feel free to reach our colleague Amit Joshi on 9820875525 / 7208155528 or email him at amit@eastcs.com if you have any questions or if you’d like to learn how ECS can help you in your e-KYC journey.

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New Development: Indian Govt. To Allow Aadhaar Authentication By Private Entities

Aadhar Authentication

In a welcome move, on Thursday 20th April 2023, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has proposed to amend the Aadhaar Authentication for Good Governance (Social Welfare, Innovation, Knowledge) Rules, 2020.

To this date, only government ministries, departments, and regulated entities like banks and telecom companies were allowed to perform Aadhaar authentication if they were fully compliant with UIDAI’s 2019 amendment to the Aadhaar Act, 2016 (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services).

With an intent to enhance the adoption of the Aadhaar authentication ecosystem, MeitY has released a draft amendment that will now allow even private entities to facilitate Aadhaar authentication to promote ease of living and enable better access to public services.

To get the government’s approval for Aadhaar authentication, private entities will have to submit a proposal justifying how their Aadhar authentication service can enhance good governance, prevent the leakage of public funds, and foster innovation.

For areas that fall under the purview of the Central Government, private entities will have to submit their proposals to the central ministry governing their operations. For subjects that are managed by State Governments, private entities have to submit their proposals to the concerned ministry / department of the respective State Government.

The government has urged the public to submit their feedback/comments to the proposed amendment before 5th May 2023 through the MyGov website.

As India’s leading Aadhaar-based Digital Identity and KYC Solutions provider, at ECS we are confident that this new development holds the potential to completely transform the current Aadhaar ecosystem and usher in a new chapter in Digital India’s growth story.

Please feel free to get in touch with our colleague Amit Joshi on 9820875525 / 7208155528 or email him at amit@eastcs.com if you need any help in navigating the complex and ever-evolving Aadhaar authentication landscape in India.

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The Next Chapter In Securing Aadhaar Authentication Transactions

Aadhaar-based fingerprint authentication

As technology advances, malicious threat actors also adapt and refine their tactics, becoming more sophisticated each day. The case is no different with India’s homegrown Aadhaar ecosystem that has completely redefined the concept of “financial inclusivity” with its unparalleled Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS) that facilitates instant direct beneficiary transfer (DBT). 

In March last year, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) had informed the Indian Parliament that it had recorded an unprecedented rise in attempted, unauthorized Aadhaar biometric-based financial transactions.

As per the statics presented by UIDAI, around 13,864 fraudulent transactions amounting to around ₹10 crore were reported between 2019 and 2022.

To thwart such malicious attempts, on 27th Feb 2023 UIDAI rolled out a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)-based mechanism for Aadhaar-based fingerprint authentication and faster detection of spoofing attempts.

As per UIDAI, this indigenously developed security mechanism uses a combination of both finger minutia and finger image to check the liveness of the fingerprint captured  by Regulated Entities (RE)s like AUAs and Sub-AUAs, thereby facilitating a dual-level authentication of the captured fingerprint.

To appreciate the importance of this new security mechanism, let’s first understand how fraudsters spoof fingerprint authentications.

Spoofing Mechanism Used By Fraudsters

As a conventional practice the ‘Optical Sensors’ embedded in a majority of biometric devices capture either the finger minutia or the finger image of the presented finger in isolation for processing the transaction.

Realising this limitation, fraudulent operators predominantly relied on using ‘Gummy Finger’ technique to bypass the security of Biometric Devices.

Instances where fraudsters were creating ‘Artificial Fingers’  from a real fingerprint image by using  materials like Free Moulding Plastic and Gelatine Sheets were extensively reported by UIDAI. Such artificial fingers were extensively used to process unauthorized fraudulent transactions.

To plug this loophole UIDAI has now introduced a mechanism to capture a combination of both finger minutia and finger image to check the liveness of the fingerprint captured. This optimization is slated to make Aadhaar authentication transactions even more robust and secure.

As India’s leading Aadhaar-based e-KYC Solutions Company, we have been closely working with UIDAI for testing this new security module and are happy to inform you we have already implemented this for some of our key clients.  

Implementation Modalities

REs need to follow the following steps to implement this new feature:

  • Obtain a new license key from UIDAI to support FIR + FMR Transactions (UIDAI has started to mandate usage of FIR + FMR)
  • Implement the new KEY in the KUA Stack
  • Incorporate the necessary changes in the request sent to RD Service and UIDAI for processing of eKYC, Bio Auth transactions.

Feel free to get in touch with our colleague Amit Joshi on 9820875525 or 7208155528 or email him at amit@eastcs.com if you have any queries, or want to know how ECS can help your organisation to implement this new security feature.  

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Recently, on 13th September 2021, RBI released a circular stating that all RBI-governed entities, such as NBFCs, Payment System Providers, and Payment System Participants, can now apply for their own AUA / KUA license to use Aadhaar’s e-KYC and Aadhaar Authentication services of UIDAI.

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