The government has extended the terms of reference of Task Force led by Nandan Nilekani, Chairman, Unique Identification Authority of India, UIDAI to include an Aadhaar-enabled unified payment infrastructure. The Task Force was constituted by the Finance Ministry in February this year to recommend and implement a solution for direct transfer of subsidies on Kerosene, LPG and Fertilizer to the intended beneficiaries. The Finance Ministry in a statement on Tuesday said that as part of its extended terms of reference, the Task Force has been told to recommend detailed solution architecture for direct transfer of subsidy by which ministries and state governments can transfer funds into any Aadhaar-enabled bank account on the basis of the Unique Identification number.

The task force has also been asked to suggest a system to align the recommendations of the Inter-Ministerial Group on a Framework for the Delivery of Basic Financial Services using mobile phones with Aadhaar enabled payments infrastructure. The panel will also recommend a solution to all Government welfare schemes involving disbursements to individual beneficiaries.
The task force will submit its final report on the extended Terms of Reference within three months of the extension of the Terms of Reference.