The Unique Identification Authority of India has restricted the access of mobile wallet companies to the Aadhaar database, effective from July 1, The Economic Times reported on Monday.
In a letter to authentication agencies on May 16, the Aadhaar authority said most payment firms do not have the infrastructure to protect users’ data.
The UIDAI has classified entities as local and global authentication user agencies. The ones classified as local will have only partial access to the database while global authentication entities, such as banks and payments banks, will have unrestricted access, the letter said.
“Some entities required to verify clients with Aadhaar number may not have the requisite security systems needed to use or store these numbers and have been precluded from the list of global AUAs [authentication user agencies],” the letter read.
This means that e-wallets cannot do electronic Know-Your-Customer operations and will depend on customers to provide virtual Aadhaar numbers for authentication.
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