Thread by @mayhempsingh

Aadhaar scam: govt lost Rs 13,500 crore because UIDAI delayed fixing price of authentication transactions for telecom operators by three years, says CAG audit report. My report

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The Aadhaar act of 2016 stipulated that telecom operators and banks using the Aadhaar service and database for authentication should be charged a fee. But UIDAI did not fix the price for 3 years. In 2019, they fixed the price per transaction at Rs 20.

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Meanwhile,govt mandated Aadhaar authentication for banks and telecom operators in 2017. By the time UIDAI fixed transaction price,637 crore transactions had already taken place. 94% of these were by telecom operators and banks. This meant govt lost thousands of crores in revenue

CAG sources confirmed that this benefitted two major telecom operators clearly. “We didn’t mention numbers because that could have created a controversy. But there’s a huge loss,” CAG sources said on the condition of anonymity.