Accenture Awarded an Indian Biometric ID Contract

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has awarded a contract to Accenture to implement the core biometric identification system in support of the “Aadhaar” program. The goal of the program is to provide each Indian resident with an ID number, Aadhaar enabling easier, more efficient and secure access to government and commercial services. The program is designed to confirm the identity of the 1.2 billion residents of India.

Under the terms of this initial contract, which will run up to two years or until 200 million enrollments, Accenture will build a new system to help manage identity-related deduplication and verification requests from both public and private organizations. Accenture will also assist UIDAI in performance benchmarking and management of data quality for continuous improvement of the biometric solution, in addition to operating and maintaining the system. The program is being developed using technology that will be deployed in a manner designed to reach the most remote residents of India.

"The Aadhaar program will not only be designed to enable the government to deliver important social welfare programs like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee to rural India, but also provide easier access for residents to services and resources such as health, education and welfare programs,” said Krishna Giri, MD of Management Consulting Practice for Health & Public Service, Asia Pacific region, Accenture. “We look forward to working closely with the government of India on this landmark initiative.”