NEW DELHI: Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has issued a notification directing local Authentication User Agencies (AUAs) to accept Aadhaar virtual ID and UID token in lieu of Aadhaar when so mandated. Paving the way for this, the UIDAI has also asked the AUAs to make necessary changes in their authentication systems to accept virtual ID, UID Token in lieu of Aadhaar number and limited e-KYC to comply with requirements of their respective Regulators. The notification is dated June 28, 2018.Local AUAs include Telecom Service Providers, National Housing Bank regulated Finance Companies, Nonbank PPI Issuers, CCA regulated eSign Providers, non-Life Insurance Companies and NBFCs etc.UIDAI , which had earlier said it will be mandatory for all agencies that undertake authentication to accept Aadhaar virtual identity from their users from June 1, 2018, had given a month’s extension to these authentication agencies. The extension was given considering the “difficulty and amount of internal work” involved for these agencies.As of now, July 1 is the deadline for service providers and agencies like banks and telecom companies to fully deploy Virtual ID system and accept these IDs in lieu of Aadhaar number. In January this year, to address privacy concerns, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) announced plans to introduce a virtual identity (VID) for Aadhaar which an Aadhaar-card holder could generate from its website and produce for various authentication purposes, instead of sharing the actual 12-digit biometric ID.In April, Aadhaar-issuing body UIDAI followed this up with the launch of beta version of VID feature allowing users to generate VID and use it to update address in Aadhaar online. It had then said that the service providers would soon start accepting VID in place of Aadhaar number.The VID is a temporary, revocable 16-digit random number mapped with the Aadhaar number. As per the UIDAI, the virtual ID can be used for the purpose of authentication in the same way the Aadhaar number is used. Currently, VID can be generated on UIDAI’s resident portal. Since this is a digital ID, Aadhaar holders can regenerate it multiple times, which makes it safer than providing your actual Aadhaar number. At present, the VID is valid for a minimum of one day, which means an Aadhaar holder would be able to re-generate a new VID a day after he has generated the first one. Further, there is no expiry period defined yet for the VID and it will be valid till the time a new one is generated by you. This particular facility on the UIDAI website, can only be accessed if you have your mobile number registered in the UIDAI database. This is because all Aadhaar-related online services are one-time password (OTP) enabled and for this, registering your mobile number with UIDAI is a must.

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