India to future-proof digital ID with AI, blockchain, quantum

India’s core digital identity network is set for a major transformation. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has announced ‘Aadhaar Vision 2032,’ a plan to advance the Aadhaar ecosystem, a digital public infrastructure, using emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and quantum security methods designed to resist and mitigate future security risks.

• UIDAI’s Aadhaar Vision 2032
• Why digital ID matters in India?
• Aadhaar upgrade promises safer services
• U.K. PM commends India’s Aadhaar

This initiative aims to modernize the world’s largest digital ID framework and position India as a global leader in technology-driven public services.

“Recognizing the rapidly changing technological and regulatory landscape, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has embarked on a comprehensive strategic and technological review to shape the next decade of Aadhaar’s evolution through a new ‘Aadhaar Vision 2032’ framework,” the Ministry of Electronics & IT said in a statement.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to play a key role in improving accuracy and reliability, improving fraud detection, enabling real-time security checks, and boosting holistic system performance. Blockchain, on the other hand, is expected to support secure, tamper-proof data management, while quantum-secure encryption will help protect against next-generation cybersecurity challenges.

Since its inception in 2009, Aadhaar has grown to become the world’s largest biometric identification system, catering to roughly 99.9% of India’s adult population. It is a 12-digit identification number that Indian residents can opt for using their basic personal data and biometric details like fingerprints and iris scan. Aadhar is widely recognised as the world’s largest digital identity programme and a major success for India’s digital public infrastructure. It provides a unique digital identity, which is demographic and biometric-based, and also intends to mitigate cloned or fake identity scams. The system is managed by the UIDAI, which operates under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

Why this matters?

At the end of April 2025, India crossed the milestone of 150 billion Aadhaar authentication transactions, a significant feat for the UIDAI and the broader Aadhaar ecosystem. This points to the overall integration of Aadhaar into digital identity verification, as well as improved access to government welfare schemes and other services, and their seamless delivery.

Aadhaar Vision 2032 is more than a periodic system upgrade, it intends to bring a planned transition toward a more smart, secure, and decentralized digital identity platform. The revamped system is expected to set new global standards for national identity programmes, bolstering India’s commitment toward technology-driven independence while strengthening public trust.

“The Aadhaar Vision 2032 framework will focus on leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain, Quantum Computing, Advanced Encryption, and next-generation Data Security mechanisms. These will ensure Aadhaar remains resilient against evolving cybersecurity threats, scalable for future demand, and adaptive to the rapidly changing digital landscape,” the Ministry said in the statement.

When Aadhaar was first introduced, the digital environment in India was very different. However, new-age challenges, including advanced cybersecurity threats, phishing attacks and deepfakes, have shaken up the regulators and policy makers. Moreover, when Aadhar was first designed, the option to leverage quantum security was either unavailable or difficult to adopt widely.;

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Aadhaar upgrade promises faster, safer services

The UIDAI’s technology stack forms the backbone of Aadhaar services, serving as a facilitator of India’s digital economy. As a result, for ordinary Indian residents, the next phase of Aadhaar’s digital transformation will provide faster service delivery, improved protection of personal data, and minimized mistakes during verification. Moreover, Aadhaar serves as the basis for accessing government services, welfare schemes, as well as a necessary step for financial inclusion. The use of AI, blockchain and quantum technologies is expected to provide better security during every authentication, whether for a signature, a scan, or a simple identity check.

“This forward-looking roadmap will strengthen Aadhaar’s technological foundation, integrate emerging digital innovations, and ensure that India’s digital identity platform remains robust, inclusive, and future-ready. To guide this ambitious transformation, UIDAI has constituted a high-level Expert Committee under the chairmanship of Shri Neelkanth Mishra, Chairperson, UIDAI. The committee brings together eminent experts and leaders from academia, industry, and administration, to provide strategic direction on strengthening Aadhaar’s innovation roadmap,” the Ministry stated.

The committee is tasked with developing the Aadhaar Vision 2032 document, which outlines the framework for the next-generation Aadhaar architecture. This would be aligned with India’s Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, and evolving international standards of cybersecurity and privacy. This means building privacy into the system right from the design stage, and providing users greater control over their personal information. This also means attending to compliance as a basic rule instead of a post-event obligation.

The committee includes Bhuvnesh Kumar, CEO of UIDAI; Vivek Raghavan, Co-Founder of Sarvam AI; Dheeraj Pandey, Founder of Nutanix; Sasikumar Ganesan, Head of Engineering of MOSIP; Rahul Matthan, Partner at Trilegal; Navin Budhiraja, CTO & Head of Products at Vianai Systems; Prabaharan Poornachandran, Professor at Amrita University; Anil Jain, Professor at Michigan State University; Mayank Vatsa, Professor at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Jodhpur; and Abhishek Kumar Singh, Deputy Director General of UIDAI.

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U.K. PM praises India’s Aadhaar as global model for digital ID

Aadhaar has caught the world’s attention due to its extensive reach and inclusive architecture. It caters to India’s 1.4 billion population, including those who did not possess any formal identification previously. This positions Aadhar into something that’s accessible by people who are not necessarily tech-savvy or affluent.

Its impact, therefore, has drawn global interest, especially from the banking and financial services sector. Most lenders, payment networks and finance technology firms, depend on identity verification as the basis for offering their services to customers, with India’s high volume, technology-enabled Aadhar model now being studied and adapted globally.;

For instance, Keir Starmer, the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister, recently praised India’s Aadhaar platform, describing the country’s unique digital identification system as a major achievement and noting that the U.K. hopes to draw lessons from it while developing its own version.

During his visit to India in October, Starmer held discussions with Nandan Nilekani, the key person behind Aadhaar’s creation, who is also the non-executive chairman of technology firm Infosys Ltd.

“I don’t know how many times the rest of you have had to look in the bottom drawer for three bills when you want to get your kids into school, or apply for this or apply for that,” Starmer reportedly said, adding that India had “already done [digital] ID and made a massive success of it.”

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