The Number of People Registered for India’s Aadhaar Program Surpasses One Billion

-NEC’s biometrics identification
system contributes to the world’s largest identification system-

Tokyo, Japan – October 12, 2016 – The number of
people registered for India’s  Aadhaar Program operated by the Unique
Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which is the largest (*1) system of
its kind in the world, surpassed one billion this April. NEC Corporation
provides a large-scale biometrics identification system that utilizes
fingerprints, face images, and iris images for this national identification
system.

UIDAI is promoting the Aadhaar Program to gather and manage the
names, addresses and biometric information of people in India in an effort to
create a society in which the entire nation can enjoy equal access to public
and financial services. Once a person registers for the system, he or she will
receive an individual 12-digit number (ID). Public organizations and banks will
use these numbers to identify people when they apply to receive social security
benefits or open bank accounts.

NEC’s large-scale biometrics identification system uses three
types of biometric information—fingerprints, face images, and iris images—to
prevent people from being registered twice. This system can handle more than
one million registrations per day by checking the registered biometric
information for more than one billion people and comparing it to the biometric
information of people seeking to register.

“It is important to make sure that the same ID is not issued
twice in order to maintain a highly reliable national identification system,”
said, Noritaka Taguma, General Manager, Transportation and City Infrastructure
Division, NEC Corporation. “NEC’s biometrics identification system helps to
stop people from pretending to be others, while simplifying procedures by
checking the information of people seeking to register for the Aadhaar Program
with greater accuracy and efficiency.”

NEC’s fingerprint and face identification technologies ranked
first (*2) in the benchmark tests conducted by the National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST) in the United States. In addition, NEC also
adjusted the identification algorithms for the biometric system for the Aadhaar
Program in an effort to improve its identification accuracy.

(*1) According to research by NEC

(*2) http://www.nec.com/en/global/solutions/biometrics/technologies/nist_proven_accuracy.html