Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is planning to give UID numbers an equivalent stature as KYC norms for opening no frills accounts for customers in villages.

Chairman of UIDAI, Nandan Nilekani said that an approval on this proposal has been sought from banking regulator, Reserve Bank of India. "We are talking to the Finance Ministry to make the unique 'Aadhaar' number equal to the KYC (know-your-customer) norms for the village accounts being opened under the financial inclusion project. We are expecting the go-ahead soon," he said.

Speaking about UID project he said, "Unless the (12-digit) UID number is made real-time and work like a micro-ATM, there is no point in going ahead with the project."

"Making the UID number equal to that of the KYC norms can overcome the biggest entry barrier in the financial inclusion plan -- that of personal details. KYC norms are acting as the biggest entry barrier for urban and rural poor," he added.

He insisted that lack of intenet penetration should not act as a big barrier towards online penetration. With increase in mobile penetration and also the inception of 3G, the barrier should not be hard to overcome, he said.

Stating that as far financial inclusion goes, "we have reached a tipping point with the launch of the project", Nilekani said.