Within nine months of its launch, one crore (10 million) Indians have been issued their unique identification number or Aadhaar numbers, a government statement said on Thursday.
"It took three months to cross the ten-lakh mark and only another six months to reach the one-crore Aadhaar enrolments mark," Nandan Nilekani, chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), said in a statement.
"This is yet another milestone, en route to our goal of issuing 60 crore Aadhaar numbers by 2014," he said.
The first UID number was issued Sept 29, 2010, in a village of Nandurbar district of Maharashtra. Coincidentally, the person who received the 10 millionth number is also from Maharashtra.
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) - headed by Nilekani - is the nodal agency, which has appointed registrars across the country to facilitate the enrolment process.
Enrolments are in progress in more than 25 states and union territories by over 30 registrars. More than 11,000 operators are involved in the process of registration for the unique identity number that would be used for most official purposes, including for opening bank accounts.
"Currently, the Aadhaar ecosystem is enrolling more than 4,00,000 residents a day," said R.S. Sharma, director general of UIDAI.
"Enrolment for the Aadhaar number will accelerate further in the coming weeks, as more registrars begin enrolling residents. Our next milestone is to reach ten lakh Aadhaars a day by October 2011," Sharma said.