Virtual Aadhaar ID generation gets easier. Just download your e-Aadhaar card

Worried about the safety of your Aadhaar card data? The next time a service provider asks you for your Aadhaar card, just download a masked e-Aadhaar card from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) website and present it for authentication. Not only will it hide the Aadhaar number from any third party, it will also provide a Virtual Aadhaar ID (VID) number.

To ensure safety of your Aadhaar data, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is promoting the use of Aadhaar Virtual ID (VID) and has added a new way of generating a VID number. VID is a single-use random number that is mapped with your Aadhaar data. If you provide the service provider with VID, it can be used in lieu of the Aadhaar number in the authentication API input.

The UIDAI website already has a Virtual Aadhaar ID generating section through which you can generate a VID if you want. But the new option of VID generation through e-Aadhaar does two tasks at one go.

How to auto generate VID with e-Aadhaar:

1. Go to the download e-Aadhaar option on the UIDAI website, which provides three options to generate an e-Aadhaar card: Aadhaar, VID and enrolment ID. It also gives you an option to generate a regular Aadhaar card or a masked Aadhaar card.

The masked Aadhaar card will have all the other details in a regular Aadhaar card barring your Aadhaar number. If you fear that your Aadhaar number can be misused then it is better to download the masked Aadhaar card, which shows only the last 4 digits of your Aadhaar number.

Enter your name and PIN code on the website.

2. Enter the OTP you receive on your linked mobile number and click on the Download Aadhaar option.

3. To open the e-Aadhaar card, enter password (First 4 letters of your name as mentioned in the Aadhaar card followed by the 4-digit year of birth in YYYY format).