Moody’s critical analysis of Aadhaar: India calls it ‘baseless’; Here’s how UIDAI, IT Ministry have reacted
Moody's has questioned Aadhaar's reliability, citing service denials and climate concerns. Here is how UIDAI and the IT Ministry have reacted.
Moody's Investors Service has recently raised questions regarding the reliability of Aadhaar, specifically concerning biometric technology's effectiveness in India's hot and humid climate. The agency also noted that Aadhaar has often led to service denials, further questioning the system's security and privacy safeguards. Here is how India has responded.
How did UIDAI respond to these allegations?
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) emphatically refuted the assertions made by Moody's, stressing that no concrete evidence was provided to support the claims. The agency pointed out that over a billion Indians had utilised Aadhaar to authenticate themselves, totalling more than 100 billion times in the past decade.
"The investor service did not make any attempt to ascertain facts regarding the issues raised by it from the Authority. The sole reference cited in the report is in respect of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), by referring to its website. However, the report incorrectly cites the number of Aadhaars issued as 1.2 billion, although the website prominently gives the updated numbers," the UIDAI said.
What points did the government and UIDAI highlight in their defence of Aadhaar's biometric technology?
The Aadhaar system has multiple authentication methods, including facial and iris recognition, aside from fingerprinting, both UIDAI and the Narendra Modi government have emphasised. They also mentioned that one-time passwords (OTP) via mobile phones are available for many services, providing a fail-safe mechanism.
The Ministry of Electronics & IT also took issue with Moody's report. What were the government's main points?
The ministry asserted that the report by Moody's was prepared without substantiating its opinions with either primary or secondary data. It highlighted that Aadhaar is trusted by over a billion Indians and pointed to the system's positive evaluations by international agencies like the IMF and World Bank.
“While the vote of confidence of a billion-plus Indians is sufficient testimony to the value offered by Aadhaar, it is pertinent that a number of international agencies, including the IMF and World Bank, have lauded the role of Aadhaar. Several nations have also been engaged with the Authority to understand how they may deploy similar digital ID systems," it said.
Moody's had voiced concerns about the system's centralisation; how did the authorities tackle this point?
UIDAI and the Ministry categorically stated that there have been no reported breaches of the Aadhaar database to date. They emphasised that Aadhaar's architecture is bolstered by state-of-the-art security measures, and its systems comply with global security and privacy standards, such as ISO 27001:2013 and ISO 27701:2019.
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Has the government provided any information about Aadhaar's role in financial inclusion?
Indeed, the government cited a recent G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) report. It mentioned that Aadhaar, alongside Jan Dhan bank accounts and mobile phones, has significantly increased the ownership of transaction accounts among Indian adults, speeding up a process that could have otherwise taken nearly half a century.
So, what's the crux of the Indian government's argument?
Both UIDAI and the Ministry of Electronics & IT consider the criticisms levelled against Aadhaar by Moody's to be “baseless”. They maintain that Aadhaar is a highly secure and reliable system, a stance supported by a vast number of Indians and acknowledged by global institutions.
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Business NewsNewsIndiaMoody’s critical analysis of Aadhaar: India calls it ‘baseless’; Here’s how UIDAI, IT Ministry have reacted
First Published:26 Sep 2023, 10:30 AM IST
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