Demonetization has forced the government to develop and promote cashless money transfer on a crash footing. After toying with various options credit and debit cards, e-wallets, mobile payments the official line seems to be in favour of Aadhaar based e-transactions which will not require a mobile phone or a plastic card. It is called BHIM ( BHarat Interface for Money) and it is deceptively simple.
Deceptive is right because unlike the existing e-wallets and mobile-based options, it requires an additional piece of hardware - a tool to authenticate the user's Aadhaar. Since Aadhaar has captured all ten fingers and the iris of the eye, either finger or iris scan will do the job, but both require a small extra tool. Conventionally, finger print scanners have been cheaper and most of the Aadhaar based ID checkssafor buying a new phone SIM have been using a finger print scanner. But it is well known that the infallibility of a finger print is not quite as high as that of an iris scan which is virtually unique to an individual. But the cost differential may soon vanish. There are currently some dozen companies worldwide manufacturing Iris scanners. One of them is a Surat based Indian player Biomatiques Identification Solutions Pvt. Ltd. the first and which has received the Standardisation, Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) from Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY) for its technology. What's more, the company has brought down costs to match finger print scanners. The authorised online distributor for Biomatiques product model: EPI-1000 is 'Inddusinc Exim Pvt. Ltd', a Surat based company that sells only through Amazon. The retail price of Biomatiques model:EPI-1000 is Rs.7,500.
In earlier work, Biomatiques CEO Tamaal Roy created a software called “PEHCHAN PRO” for Face portrait building, which remains the only Identity kit Software Certified by Bureau of Police Research and Development and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). It is by the police to prepare sketches of the accused. In 2012, Roy started Biomatiques to manufacture the first indigenous iris scanner in India.
He makes the case for using Iris scans for Aadhaar ID proofs as well as for access control into sensitive areas:
"In India, nearly 70 per cent population is into labour, agriculture and other manual activities. Fingerprints of farmers and manual laborers tend to get worn out over a period of time. In such conditions Finger print proves to be a weak form of biometric. Iris on the other hand is the best authentication process available today. While many mistake it for retinal scanning, iris recognition simply involves taking a picture of the iris; this picture is used solely for authentication. Iris recognition method analyzes more than 200 points of the Iris, including furrows, rings, corona, freckles and other structures. After recording data of individuals, the system saves information in a database to compare it when a user seeks access. Iris recognition technology is one of the most accurate security systems to identify a unique user, promptly and conveniently. Practically there cannot be two humans who have the same iris pattern what so ever. The accuracy rate of the software is such that the chance of error in iris recognition technology is 1:1.5 million."
"When Aadhaar is linked with Iris, the first formal step is to eliminate the traditional process of creating multiple paper works by using the E-KYC process. Banks and other institutions can now verify the details of an individual using E-KYC, resulting in no documentation for account opening, investment, new phone connections, LPG connections etc. Since there is no documentation the process also drastically reduces the risk of security breach that has the potential of causing severe damages. The new revolution should comprise eKYC/IRIS using Aadhar and integrate with other digital initiatives like Digi lockers, e-signature etc."
"The advantages of Iris Technology include:
· Uniqueness. The possibility of two individuals having same identification features is virtually zero
· Highly secure process of identifying users makes it less prone for users to share confidential information
· Iris details of users cannot be faked, duplicated, lost or stolen
· The process of verifying users is completely cost effective"