Centre to roll out Aadhaar Pay service for digital transactions soon

New Delhi: The Centre will soon roll out Aadhaar Pay service that will enable people to make and receive payments using only their Aadhaar number and thumb impression, said Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Friday.

Currently the service has been launched on a pilot basis by IDBI and IDFC. “We are going to start Aadhaar Pay. With this people will not require to carry their phone or debit cards for payments. They can visit any merchant, share their Aadhaar number and verify themselves using biometrics (thumb impression) to pay and receive money,” said Mr Prasad.

He said that Aadhaar will be a game changer with Aadhaar Pay. “This will be available to all the persons having Aadhaar linked bank accounts, whose number stands at 39 crores now from 6.7 crores in May 2014. About 2 crore Aadhaar numbers are linked to bank accounts every month,” said the minister.

He said that currently 14 banks have come on board for Aadhaar Pay and the service will be launched soon. “We are in talks with other banks too. The service will be launched very soon,” he informed. Some banks have already developed their application and testing it in Andhra Pradesh.