India’s Aadhaar process may find takers abroad

Mumbai: NSDL e-governance, the registrars for Aadhaar and PAN card applications, will soon undertake similar unique identification projects in select African and Asian countries in a joint venture with infrastructure majors Sterling and Wilson.

The turnkey project is part of the company’s larger offshore expansion plans where it would provide data service solutions to countries looking to start their own unique identification and tax registry projects, a top official told ET. A turnkey project in international business parlance is a contract under which a company builds a fully-equipped service facility before selling it to the pre-agreed purchaser once it’s in operational condition.

“We will be looking to target African, Middle East and South Asian markets where we have found the governments to have shown interest for starting unique identification, VAT, e-KYC and other e-governance based projects,” Gagan Rai, managing director and CEO, NSDL e-governance said.

Rai said that representatives from both the companies would soon be reaching out to the authorities in these countries to chalk out the contracts and kick off the first phase of the project. “We have not started any specific project-related conversations with the governments yet, but we are in the process of initiating them soon,” Rai said.

Sterling and Wilson said that it’s still early stages of the partnership and both companies are still in the process of developing market strategies.

“Sterling and Wilson and NSDL e-governance will be exploring the markets of Africa, South Asia and Middle East… Some of the projects that we would explore could be in public private partnership model,” Prasanna Sarambale CEO, Data Center business, Sterling and Wilson, said in a mailed response to ET’s queries.

Sterling and Wilson, a subsidiary of conglomerate Shapoorji Pallonji, has ongoing infrastructure projects in roadways, power and renewable energy plants in 28 countries where they have setup offices. NSDL will be utilising this existing infrastructure network to begin their operations in these markets as per the partnership agreement between the two companies.

“Sterling and Wilson already has presence in the countries we were looking to make inroads. They will provide with the physical infrastructure while we have the requisite financial and technical infrastructure. It’s a good marriage between the two companies,” said Rai.