Aadhaar ID saving Indian govt $1 billion every year: World Bank

The World Bank has said that India's Aadhaar ID will save the government $1 billion annually by curbing corruption.

"We estimate that this (Aadhaar digital ID) is saving approximately $1 billion (Rs 650 crores) a year by reducing corruption and leakage for the Indian government. It is a help in fiscal budgeting. It is a help in providing other useful services," World Bank’s Chief Economist Kaushik Basu told reporters.

"India's Aadhaar digital identification system has already reached close to one billion people enabling many of the poor to access services more easily and making it possible for government to deliver welfare services more easily," he said.

India is close to registering its entire 1.25 billion population using Aadhaar ID, the World Bank said. This would allow the inclusion of disadvantaged groups.

"Technology can be transformational. A digital identification system such as India's Aadhaar, by overcoming complex information problems, helps willing governments to promote the inclusion of disadvantaged groups," the World Bank said.

Image credit: Indiatimes