Indus OS and Delta ID to launch first Aadhaar authenticated OS for Indians

Over the past six months, Indus OS and Delta ID, have been laying the groundwork for the first-ever Aadhaar-authenticated OS, which uses IRIS-biometric technology for secure identification and authentication modality, and supports 12 Indian languages. They have expedited efforts to launch it this quarter and empower the 1 billion plus Indians who are enrolled for Aadhaar. The companies expect Indians to use their Aadhaar for identification and authentication of various services such as Govt. subsidies and payment wallets. 

Among the range of citizen services announced by the government, Aadhaar has a massive reach of 1 billion in the country. Given that smartphone adoption is rapidly growing and with India being one of the largest markets in the world, the roll out of first-ever Aadhaar-authenticated OS will help drive mass adoption of Government to citizen services and initiatives.

Indus OS has already partnered with 6 domestic smartphone brands including Micromax, Intex, Karbonn, Celkon and Swipe. Aadhaar authenticated OS will pave the way for deeper integration of Government initiatives such as Aadhar Pay, Digilocker and UPI. The OS will also have the ability to secure financial transactions via the IRIS technology, thereby pushing the adoption of digitally enabled financial services. Indus OS expects over 100 million users of the Aadhaar authenticated OS in the next 3 years.

How will it work?

• The software plus hardware combination captures the IRIS-ID-information through a dedicated iris scanning camera built into the smartphone.
• The OS first encodes this information and then encrypts it with UID’s public key
• This encrypted information is sent to the UIDAI server for a match
• UIDAI server responds with a token ‘Yes’ or ‘No’
• If the token is ‘Yes’, the consumer is authorized to utilize Aadhaar ID for a whole suit of activities

Key aspects:

Safer technology:  As the access to Aadhaar authentication is directly integrated at the level of the operating system, it negates any security risk.

Simplified process: With the facility being integrated at the operating system level itself, it negates multiple and complex layers for consumers. They would no longer have to undertake unnecessary steps for access to digital services, as Aadhaar identification and authentication will be available in a single step. Additionally, as it will support 12 regional languages the product also enables ease of access for the 90 per cent of Indian population that does not consider English to be 1st, 2nd or 3rdlanguage

Cost effective: Aadhaar identification and authentication through cost-effective IRIS  scanning hardware by Delta ID, built into Indus OS gives smartphone manufacturers a distinct software-hardware combination.

Benefits to manufacturers: With the government pushing for higher adoption of Aadhaar related services in the country, and on creating the roadmap for Digital India, this innovation will give smartphone manufacturers an extra edge, and also act as a means to showcase their support towards government led initiatives.