Aadhaar-as-a-Service (AaaS): Powering India’s Next Wave of Digital Identity Innovation

Aadhaar: The Foundation of Digital India 

In a country that has redefined the way digital identity works, Aadhaar remains one of India’s most powerful innovations, a single 12-digit number that’s become the key to inclusion, efficiency, and trust. 

Over the last decade, Aadhaar has evolved from a public infrastructure to a cornerstone of India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). It powers access to financial services, healthcare, and government benefits for over 1.3 billion residents. But now, it’s stepping into a new era, one where the private sector can also harness its capabilities responsibly and securely. 

This shift is redefining how businesses verify identities, onboard users, and establish trust. And at the heart of that evolution stands M2P Identity, enabling this transformation through Aadhaar-as-a-Service (AaaS): a secure, API-driven solution designed to make identity verification instant, inclusive, and privacy-first.

What is Aadhaar-as-a-Service (AaaS)?

Aadhaar-as-a-Service is a technology framework that brings the power of Aadhaar authentication and verification into a plug-and-play service model that can be customized to business requirements, meeting UIDAI compliance.  

Instead of every business individually building the complex infrastructure needed to connect to the UIDAI ecosystem, M2P Identity provides a secure API suite that abstracts that complexity, allowing companies to onboard, verify, and authenticate customers seamlessly.

At its core, AaaS facilitates: 

• e-KYC, D-KYC, Min KYC for instant, paperless onboarding 

• OTP, biometric, or face-based authentication for flexible user journeys 

• Virtual ID (VID) integration for privacy-preserving verification 

• Real-time consent capture and audit trails for compliance transparency 

It’s a single orchestration layer built to make identity verification accessible and compliant for every business, not just those under direct regulation.

How Aadhaar-as-a-Service Empowers Businesses?

Digital onboarding with e-KYC 
 
Aadhaar’s e-KYC automation takes the hassle out of the verification process, making it quicker and easier for customers and service providers alike. With Aadhaar e-KYC, fintechs can complete the entire process in minutes. 
 
Virtual ID (VID) for privacy-first interactions 
 
In a time when data privacy is a growing concern, Aadhaar provides a solution in the form of Virtual ID (VID). Fintech platforms use VID to perform e-KYC without ever accessing the Aadhaar number, adding an extra layer of privacy and building trust with users. 
 
Secure and flexible authentication options 
 
Aadhaar supports multiple ways to verify identity, allowing fintechs to choose the authentication method:

• OTP (One Time Password)

• Biometric (Fingerprint/Iris)

• Face Authentication 

Flexibility ensures fintechs tailor the method to the situation, keeping security and convenience balanced. For example, a loan disbursement might require biometric authentication, while account login could be done via OTP.

Regulatory Shift: Private Sector Access and the SWIK Portal

The recent regulatory change opened the doors for private and non-regulated entities to leverage Aadhaar authentication. In February 2025, via the SWIK portal (Aadhaar Good Governance Portal) by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), businesses can now apply to use Aadhaar authentication for specific public-interest services.   
 
Under the Aadhaar Authentication for Good Governance (Social Welfare, Innovation, Knowledge) Amendment Rules, 2025, private entities may use Aadhaar authentication provided they submit a proposal to the relevant Ministry/Department and satisfy defined criteria.   
 
Additionally, according to the UIDAI ecosystem guidelines: an Authentication User Agency (AUA) may be a government/public/private agency registered in India that uses Aadhaar authentication services. 

For India’s digital ecosystem, this is a watershed moment. It means: 

• Faster, compliant onboarding across sectors 

• Reduction in identity fraud and impersonation 

• Inclusion of rural and underserved users 

• Unified digital identity infrastructure across fintech, mobility, education, healthcare, and more 

And this is exactly where Aadhaar-as-a-Service becomes the enabling layer, positioning M2P Identity’s AaaS as the bridge for non-regulated entities, from e-commerce and healthcare to travel, hospitality, and gig platforms, to adopt Aadhaar-based verification securely and compliantly.

Inside M2P Identity’s AaaS Architecture

Behind M2P Identity’s AaaS lies a robust, privacy-aware architecture purpose-built for scale. 

1. API Orchestration Layer 

The foundation of M2P’s AaaS lies in its modular APIs, designed for seamless integration with existing business systems. Whether it’s a fintech platform or a healthcare management app, APIs ensure instant onboarding and authentication flows without disrupting user experience. 

2. Consent and Privacy Gateway 

Every Aadhaar authentication request passes through M2P’s consent engine, ensuring compliance with UIDAI’s regulations and India’s Data Protection framework. The system logs consent, authentication type, and transaction identifiers, establishing complete auditability. 

3. Secure Data Handling 

All biometric or demographic data is encrypted in transit and never stored by M2P or the client. The platform adheres to UIDAI’s latest data minimization and anonymization standards. 

4. Scalability and Availability 

Designed for high concurrency, M2P’s AaaS ensures reliability for businesses that handle millions of authentications daily, backed by active monitoring, failover systems, and SDK support. 

This architecture transforms Aadhaar integration from a compliance requirement into a strategic technology advantage.

Use Cases: Real-World Business Applications

With the SWIK framework opening authentication to private entities, the possibilities extend far beyond financial services. Aadhaar-based verification is now becoming the trust fabric of India’s digital economy. 

While the possibilities are virtually endless, here are two detailed use cases, plus a quick overview of other scenarios.

Use Case 1: Fintech / Lending Platform 

A digital lender today can onboard a rural borrower in minutes through Aadhaar-based e-KYC: no paperwork, no delay. M2P Identity’s A-a-a-S enables lenders to verify users via Virtual ID, match credentials in real time, and complete onboarding without human intervention. This means faster disbursals, lower operational costs, and full compliance with KYC guidelines. 

The result: Onboarding time reduced from days to minutes, lower documentation costs, better compliance with RBI KYC norms, and access to previously underserved customers. 

Use Case 2: Healthcare & Private Hospitals 

A private hospital chain uses AaaS to digitize patient onboarding, linking Aadhaar-based authentication for telemedicine portals, staff attendance, discharge summary authentication and Mediclaim verification. 

Imagine a patient walking into a private hospital, authenticating their Aadhaar via face or fingerprint, and having their entire care history pulled up securely within seconds, all without paperwork or duplication. 

The result: Leveraging biometric/face authentication tied to Aadhaar for staff and patients, enables seamless patient record access, reduces fraud, improves regulatory compliance, and boosts patient experience. 

Additional Use Cases 

• Digital insurance marketplace (e.g., large-scale online cover platforms) using Aadhaar e-KYC for instant policy issuance 

• Education sector: verifying students’ identities or attendance systems (government subsidy eligible) 

• E-commerce & logistics: verifying delivery agents or blue-collar gig-workers for platforms like ride-hailing or home-services 

• Travel & aviation: driver verification (e.g., for ride-hailing) or bus-coach fleets verifying driver credentials and insurance via Aadhaar 

• Luxury goods COD scenario: e-commerce platform offering cash-on-delivery for high-value items verifies buyer identity with Aadhaar to reduce fraud 

• Social media/Matrimony platforms: Use Aadhaar verification to create safer digital spaces by authenticating profiles, preventing fake identities, and building trust between real users. 

These are just a few of the hundreds of use cases Aadhaar-as-a-Service can unlock. Whether it’s authenticating users on matrimonial platforms, validating staff in corporate systems, or verifying service providers in real time, Aadhaar-as-a-Service is redefining what digital trust looks like in practice.

How M2P Identity Enables Non-Regulated Entities?

While regulated entities like banks and NBFCs have had Aadhaar access for years, non-regulated entities, healthcare companies, travel aggregators, digital marketplaces, and logistics networks, lacked the technical and regulatory bridge to adopt Aadhaar authentication. 

M2P Identity fills that gap. 

• It provides ready-to-integrate Aadhaar APIs aligned with UIDAI’s authentication architecture 

• It manages consent capture, response validation, and encryption in compliance with UIDAI norms 

• It enables non-regulated entities to route authentication requests via authorized Authentication User Agencies (AUAs) or KYC User Agencies (KUAs) 

• It offers developer-ready SDKs and sandbox environments for rapid adoption

In essence, M2P Identity turns a compliance-heavy process into a seamless experience, helping businesses, from healthcare to education, adopt Aadhaar-based verification while confidently navigating UIDAI’s audit and regulatory frameworks.

The Trust Layer for India’s Digital Decade

India’s digital growth story is built on interoperable, open digital infrastructure, from Aadhaar (identity) to UPI (payments) to DigiLocker (documents) to ONDC (commerce). Aadhaar-as-a-Service completes this architecture by giving businesses the trust layer they need to verify, onboard, and engage users responsibly. 

M2P Identity’s vision is to make identity verification as seamless as digital payment, instant, inclusive, and secure. As India transitions into a privacy-first data economy, Aadhaar-as-a-Service will serve as the bridge between policy and innovation, helping organizations build with confidence while safeguarding user trust. 

Conclusion: A New Chapter in India’s Digital Identity Journey

Aadhaar-as-a-Service is more than a technical integration; it’s an evolution of India’s trust ecosystem. It extends the power of digital identity to every business, every citizen, and every transaction that demands security and accountability. 

For enterprises, it’s a chance to reimagine onboarding, compliance, and user engagement. For India, it’s another step toward an inclusive, verified, and privacy-respecting digital future. 

With M2P Identity’s Aadhaar-as-a-Service, businesses can now join that journey, responsibly, efficiently, and at scale. 

Ready to see how your business can scale with Aadhaar? 

Schedule a demo with M2P Identity to explore how AaaS can redefine digital verification for your ecosystem.

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Reference links:

https://uidai.gov.in/en/ecosystem/authentication-ecosystem/authentication-requesting-agency.html 

https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=2098223 

https://ibsintelligence.com/ibsi-news/india-opens-aadhaar-authentication-to-private-sector/ 

https://www.khaitanco.com/thought-leadership/Aadhaar-authentication-for-private-entities 

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/uidai-notifies-rules-for-private-entities-to-perform-aadhaar-authentication/article69165242.ece