What are the top 5 things under Aadhaar Masking guidelines?

Aadhaar card has a 12-digit unique identification number tied to an individual’s fingerprints, face and eye scan. It is a document that serves as a proof of address and identity, and aims to prevent theft and leakage in India’s welfare schemes. 

Why is Aadhaar Masking made mandatory by the government?

While conducting Aadhaar Card verification there is a risk of misusing the personal information by fraudulent entities. These flagged privacy concerns have pushed the government to make the masked Aadhaar mandatory.

How a masked Aadhaar prevents identity frauds and scams?

A masked Aadhaar adds an extra layer of protection on the Aadhaar card by masking the initial 8 digits of the Aadhaar number and the QR code – only keeping the last 4 digits readable. It can be shared/stored without revealing any sensitive information. A masked aadhaar reduces the user scams and can be easily used in situations where providing the Aadhaar number is not required.

In May 2019, RBI made some modifications in the master direction on KYC guidelines for regulated entities. One such modification made it mandatory for all the RBI-regulated institutions to mask clients’ AADHAAR cards as part of the Aadhaar e-KYC online process.

Let’s discuss the top 5 things under Aadhaar Masking Guidelines

1. As per Aadhaar Masking guidelines, the first 8 digits of your Aadhaar card verification number get replaced by asterisks and appear as “XXXX_XXXX”, while the last 4 digits remain as it is. The QR code is also masked. Customers can easily download the masked version via the password-protected electronic Aadhaar in a compliant manner.
2. Other demographic information such as name, DOB, gender, address, remain the same. It is digitally signed by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and it is masked at the point of capture before it’s stored permanently in the systems.
3. UIDAI administers Aadhaar and related regulations, which are further supervised by several authorities which includes the RBI, IRDAI, TRAI, and SEBI. Any RBI regulated industry collecting Aadhaar cards for identification and onboarding purposes is required to mask or blackout the Aadhaar number before filing and storage purposes. 
4. Regardless of the industry type or business size, every firm should use a masked Aadhaar as per RBI mandates. Even a start-up conducting identity verification of employers/customers needs to use a masked version.
5. Aadhaar card is one of the most common documents that is submitted for various instances such as opening a bank account, insurance, FD, video KYC, and third party onboarding process.

The existing KYC process is encompassed with various stages of human intervention including collection & submission of relevant documents, scan & upload of hard copy in the management systems, and manual verification. Due to this, companies (especially baking and financial ones) have a pool of customer-proof images in their systems – uncategorised and unsegregated. 

To enhance customer experience and streamline the process, it is crucial to categorize the KYC documents. Advanced technologies like AI are capable of detecting 12-digit AADHAAR numbers from images and videos. In the RBI mandated KYC guidelines, it is allowed to leverage AI and automation technology for such tasks and mask Aadhaar in minimal time.

Why AuthBridge’s Aadhaar Masking Solution?

Our AI-powered Aadhaar processing solution helps identify, extract, validate and mask Aadhaar details and ensures efficient digitization of end-to-end Aadhaar processing for seamless onboarding of third-parties and business partners.

Our solutions built on OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and NLP (Natural Language Processing) helps you segregate and classify your bulk customer’s Aadhaar data (existing and new ones) from any number of formats while ensuring fastest TAT.

Key Features & Benefits

• Real-time & Instant Masking
• Bulk Masking Capabilities 
• Seamless API based Integrations
• Multiple Document Formats Supported
• Robust User Data Privacy, Security & Compliance

Ease your compliance journey with our robust Aadhaar API masking assuring seamless integration with your existing workflows and processes. AuthBridge’s Aadhaar Masking Solution can partially or completely mask the Aadhaar number in real-time. You can utilize our solution for all new and existing customer records.

Get Started Today!

Please get in touch with our solution expert or drop us an email at sales@authbridge.com to learn more. Book a free consultation today and help us understand your requirements in detail.