The Indian government plans to shortlist vendors for iris-based authentication solutions that can be linked to citizens’ biometrics-backed Aadhaar number.
A request for proposals was released on 5 November for interested original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) or their authorised business partners.
The ministry has had two rounds of discussions—one in July and another one in August—to develop and prescribe a unified application programming interface (API) for ease of application development on smartphones and tablets. It wants to remove the operating system level constraints and enable easier integration of biometric devices with Aadhaar-enabled applications, according to a government document reviewed by the tech magazine.
The plan is to make every tablet and smartphone in India to be Aadhaar-enabled so that users can biometrically authenticate themselves. Also, the services, which currently require a physical presence and signatures, can be provided to people digitally in presence-less, paperless and cashless manner,” the document noted.
Iris recognition is also the most accurate form of biometric identification currently available with extremely low false acceptance rates and false rejection rates, according to the ministry.
