UIDAI Takes a New Step in Aadhaar Face Authentication

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has unveiled a new Aadhaar Face Authentication Software Development Kit (SDK) along with a dedicated sandbox, enabling banks, fintech firms and insurance companies to integrate Aadhaar-based face authentication directly into their mobile apps. The announcement was made at the Global Fintech Fest 2026. With the new SDK, users will no longer need to switch between different apps and can complete Aadhaar face authentication within their banking, insurance or brokerage apps. Earlier, the process required the separate FaceRD app.

UIDAI Chairman Neelkanth Mishra said the new SDK would allow partner banks to conduct authentication on their own servers. This is expected to reduce the load on UIDAI infrastructure while strengthening security. He said that despite hundreds of cyberattacks taking place every day, adequate security measures are in place. Aadhaar authentication currently records around 100 million transactions a day, and infrastructure is being prepared to support 250–300 million transactions in the future.

The new SDK includes AI and machine learning-based liveness detection and anti-spoofing capabilities. The newly launched sandbox will allow developers to test user provisioning, face capture, liveness checks and error handling without requiring external biometric hardware. The face authentication system, launched in 2021, has processed more than 5 billion transactions so far and is being used for services such as Jeevan Pramaan, Ayushman Bharat and PM-KISAN. UIDAI has also released an Ease of Onboarding Playbook as a guide for the BFSI sector.