New Delhi: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) introduced ‘Virtual ID’ (VID) and limited ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) service for Aadhaar holders in a bid to address privacy concerns, on Jan. 10.

With the introduction of ‘Virtual ID,’ a fungible number mapped to the Aadhaar number, holders will be given an option to not share their 12-digit biometric code, stated UIDAI in a notification.

It will be a temporary and revocable 16-digit, randomly-generated number, which will be used for authentication. Moreover, it will not be possible to derive the Aadhaar number from VID.

The VID of the user would give any authorised agency like a mobile company, limited details like name, address and photograph. It will not be possible to locate one’s Aadhaar number based on this ID.

Additionally, as per the UIDAI, agencies that undertake authentication would not be allowed to generate the VID on behalf of the Aadhaar holder.

It can only be generated by the Aadhaar number holder and the UIDAI will provide various options to the holders to generate, retrieve, and replace the VID.

While the VID allows Aadhar holders to avoid sharing the number, the UIDAI has taken an additional step to ensure that the storage of Aadhaar numbers within various databases is regulated.

The limited KYC will allow agencies to undertake a paperless KYC process without access to the Aadhaar number. The Aadhaar-issuing body will start accepting Virtual ID from Mar.1, 2018.

It will be compulsory for all agencies that undertake authentication to accept the Virtual ID from their users from June 1, 2018.

Things to know about ‘Virtual ID’ (VID)

1. The Virtual ID, which would be a random 16-digit number, together with biometrics of the user would give limited details like name, address and photograph, which are enough for any verification.
2. This will give the users the option of not sharing their Aadhaar number at the time of authentication.
3. A user can generate as many Virtual IDs as he or she wants, said officials. The older VID gets automatically cancelled once a fresh one is generated.  
4. VID will be a temporary 16-digit random number mapped with the Aadhaar number. Last digit of the VID is the checksum using ‘Verhoeff’ algorithm as in Aadhaar number. There will be only one active and valid VID for an Aadhaar number at any given time.

The “Verhoeff” algorithm is a checksum formula for error detection developed by Dutch Mathematician Jacobus Verhoeff and was first published in 1969.

5. VID, by design being temporary, cannot be used by agencies for de-duplication. VID is revocable and can be replaced by a new one by Aadhaar number holder after the minimum validity period set by UIDAI policy.
6. The Aadhaar-issuing body, UIDAI, will start accepting VID from Mar. 1, 2018. From June 1, 2018 it will be compulsory for all agencies that undertake authentication to accept Virtual ID from their users.
7. VID will also reduce the collection of Aadhaar numbers by  various agencies.
8. As many as 119 crore biometric identifiers have been issued so far and Aadhaar is required as an identity proof of residents by various government and non-government entities.