SIM cards will be invalid after Feb 2018 if not linked with Aadhaar

The Narendra Modi government will likely deactivate all the mobile numbers that are not linked with Aadhaar card after February 2018 to ensure that criminals, fraudsters and terrorists cannot use the issued SIMs.

The Supreme Court passed a notice earlier this year to make the Aadhaar-SIM linkage compulsory along with bank account and the Permanent Account Number (PAN) with Aadhaar card.

All SIM cards will have to be verified with Aadhaar within a year from the date of judgement and all unlinked phone numbers to be deactivated after February next year to push criminals to have a hard time -- as biometrics cannot be stored by the mobile operators nor can they have access to any of the other personal data, sources close to the matter told Economic Times.

Biometrics gathered should be encrypted by the telecom companies and send to Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) at that moment. Storage of biometric by any phone connection provider is a serious criminal offence.

UIDAI is an agency of the Indian government which is responsible for implementing the Aadhaar scheme that aims to provide a unique identification number to all the people across the nation.

However, the government had not given any information about the Aadhaar-mobile linkage deadline so far and could well extend the last date of linking both.

The attorney general had said that the government agreed to the idea, but given the huge number, of mobile phone users (about 105 crore), the process will take time. Additionally, more than 90 percent of subscribers are a prepaid user which makes registration a difficult process.

Last week, the government has extended the deadline to link Aadhaar with PAN card to December 31 which is also the last day to link Aadhaar with bank accounts. Earlier, the last date was August 31.

Aadhaar ID is set to dominate PAN and other identification documents in financial markets and all other services to make it more convenient for the people.

Last month, reports suggested that provident fund (PF) account will be automatically transferred within three days if people change their job. But, for that to happen, all employees must have an Aadhaar card first.

Also,the government along with the watchdog—Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI)—is now planning to link Aadhaar to the financial market transactions in an attempt to fight corruption.