For the better security of a person’s Aadhar number, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has recently introduced the facility of Masked Aadhar whereby only the last four digits of a person’s 12 digit Aadhar number will be shown. While the regular Aadhar shows all the 12 digits of our Aadhar number, the first 8 digits will remain protected in the masked Aadhar. Any such person, who does not want to disclose his /her Aadhar number, can use the option of masked Aadhar. However, other information like photograph, demographic information and QR code that are visible on a regular Aadhar card will remain visible on masked Aadhar also.
Is it Valid?
Masked Aadhar or e-Aadhar is digitally signed by the competent Authority of UIDAI and equally valid everywhere as regular Aadhar for all the purposes. Hence, instead of sharing their Aadhar number at the time of authentication, people can use the Masked Aadhar feature. The masked AADHAR facility displays a virtual AADHAR number instead of a person’s AADHAR number so that the original AADHAR number remains secured and confidential. The Masked Aadhar is valid for a definite period of time and a person can generate a fresh masked card from the website any number of times as he or she wants and the older ID will get revoked automatically on the generation of a fresh one.
All the agencies and service provider companies are instructed by the UIDAI to accept masked Aadhar for the purpose of authentication and whenever KYC services are performed and if any agency does not provide this additional option to their users, it will face financial disincentives.
How to download the Masked Aadhar?
The steps to download Masked Aadhar are as follows:
- Visit the official website of UIDAI (https://uidai.gov.in) and go to the download Aadhar option available on the home page of the website. The e-Aadhar can be generated in the following 2 forms: regular Aadhar or masked Aadhar. To opt for the masked Aadhar, select the ‘masked Aadhar’ option.
The UIDAI website provides a resident the following three options to download an e-Aadhar:
- By using enrollment number: In this process, a resident needs to enter the 28 digit enrolment number.
- By using Aadhar number: In this downloading process, the resident is required to enter 12 digit Aadhar number printed on the Aadhar card to download e-Aadhar.
- By using the Virtual ID (VID): A person can also download the ‘masked Aadhar’ on the website by using the 16 digit Virtual ID number.
- Enter your full name, PIN code and security code displayed on the website.
- An OTP will be received on the registered mobile number of the resident. Submit the OTP and click on the ‘Download Aadhar’ option.
- A person needs to enter his password to open the e-Aadhar card. The password for e-Aadhar is a combination of first 4 letters of his/her name as mentioned in the Aadhar card followed by the 4-digit year of birth in YYYY format.
