Face recognition to be integrated into Aadhaar devices by July 10 ahead of August 1 implementation

Jul 2, 2018, 12:14 pm EDT | Stephen Mayhew

Biometric device manufacturers are being asked to finish integrating facial recognition with Aadhaar-registered devices by July 10 by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in order to be ready for the August 1 implementation date, livemint.com reports.

The UIDAI pushed the implementation date for facial recognition back from July 1 to give stakeholders more time to develop the capability. The Aadhaar database already includes facial images, so not additional data needs to be captured to use facial recognition for identity verification.

“Following the security principle that all biometrics will be captured only through a registered device (RD) service, all biometric vendors shall develop RD service to capture face image, ensure liveness check and create digitally signed and encrypted authentication input to allow Authentication User Agency (AUA) client application to use that option whenever required by the AUA application,” a UIDAI circular dated June 19 said.

Facial recognition is only to be used as an authenticator in combination with other biometric scans, namely fingerprint or iris recognition, according to the circular. The UIDAI decided to add the new modality to Aadhaar in January in the event that a user has difficulty verifying his or her identity with another biometric or an AUA has not deployed both fingerprint and iris scanners.

AUAs are government, pubic, or private agencies divided into local AUAs such as non-bank financial institutions and telecom operators, which are limited to KYC, and global AUAs, which also have access to e-KYC using Aadhaar numbers.