An official statement said: 'Issue of unique ID to most of the persons will overcome problem of duplicate and bogus identity (documents). It would prove to be helpful in implementation of flagship schemes of the central and state governments. It will also be a useful source for online verification and authentication.'

Nilekani also expressed his keenness to make use of a database prepared by the 'Mission Convergence' of the Delhi government and appreciated their efforts in preparing the database.

Dikshit said the database of 900,000 households and 4.2 million people is more comprehensive as it is based on additional biometric information and other details.