Visa cards for those registered with UIDAI

February 8, 2011 at 2:34 pm | Posted in New Business, UID Propaganda | Comments Off on Visa cards for those registered with UIDAI

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/personal-finance/credit-cards/news/Visa-cards-for-those-registered-with-UIDAI/articleshow/6933089.cms

16 NOV, 2010, 04.34AM IST,ET BUREAU

Visa cards for those registered with UIDAI

 

MUMBAI: Unbanked individuals will soon be able to have payment cards, with card company Visa building a system where an individual who has been registered by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will be entitled to receive a card from a Visa partner bank, based on UIDAI biometric identification.

Visa is partnering TSYS — a US-based tech company that focuses on credit card transactions — to help it use biometric verification for issue of cards. With this technology in place, the card company can check the applicant’s credentials by verifying his fingerprints or iris impression.

The UIADI, through the Aadhaar scheme, aims to provide every Indian with a unique identity number which can be ascertained by his fingerprints or iris impression. The authority plans to issue Aadhaar numbers to 600 million residents over the next four years, with a 100 million expected to be enrolled in the first year.

According to Visa, a very small proportion of the Indian population has bank accounts. As a part of the proposed solution, once an individual enrolls into Aadhaar, the partner bank can issue a Visa payment card (linked to his/her Aadhaar).

Visa group executive Elizabeth Buse said: “Many Indians have little or no access to the banking system in India. Now they will be able to benefit from all the security, reliability and convenience that a Visa payments card has to offer. This is a ground-breaking initiative and a great example of a public-private partnership in action. I am delighted that Visa is part of such an important project in India.”