473 full-service Aadhaar centres from September 2026: UIDAI CEO

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will increase the number of full-fledged Aadhaar enrollment and update centres for adults to 473 from the current 88 by September 2026, UIDAI CEO Bhuvnesh Kumar told The Hindu. 

While children can be enrolled for Aadhaar at post offices, adult enrollees have fewer places to go. Since adult applicants may have to travel past multiple districts to reach a centre, the expansion will help them, Mr. Kumar said. Such centres offer all modification and enrollment services. Some Aadhaar details can be updated online, but changes in biometrics and updating one’s name after a certain limit require visit to a centre.

Mr. Kumar said UIDAI wants to ensure that there is at least one centre in two districts. 

The number of adult enrollees is likely a small percentage of Indians (the precise share cannot be calculated due to the lack of a nationwide Census since 2011), but even a small percentage could translate to lakhs of people due to India’s population. “We are working with Google and we will soon have Google locations for Aadhaar centres,” Mr. Kumar said.

Field verification

Mr. Kumar said that due to concerns of illegal immigration, Aadhaar has been issued in recent months “only after field verification” by district administrations. Most adult applicants include non-resident Indians or overseas citizens of India, the latter being foreign nationals with ties to India either by marriage or parentage. Foreign nationals who live in India are permitted to have an Aadhaar as it is not proof of citizenship.

UIDAI is working on the integrity of data by restricting changes in date of birth of Aadhaar holders. “If someone has two different dates of birth in two different documents, one is false,” Mr. Kumar said. People who had to change the date of birth once will be allowed to do so after filing an affidavit admitting a clerical mistake but doing so twice will not be allowed, he said. 

Parents who falsified their children’s date of birth during Aadhaar enrollment risk criminal action, Mr. Kumar said, referring to a case in which the Allahabad High Court ordered the filing of an FIR against a parent over irregularity surrounding a child’s date of birth.