With the huge success of Aadhaar (more than 1 billion Aadhaar numbers have been issued), biometric based authentication solutions have received increased attention. Biomatiques, an Indian company, specializing in Iris recognition technology, believes that the growth in the Indian market for Iris 
recognition technologies is set to explode due to the increasing use in corporate houses, schools and industries for identity and access management coupled with rising demand from IT/ITeS to authenticate access to confidential information. Tamaal Roy, CEO, Biomatiques Identification Solutions, shares with EC, his perspective on the huge demand for biometric based solutions in the Indian market, and why every sector from BFSI to the Government can benefit heavily from using biometric-based solutions
Some edited excerpts:
What is the demand for IRIS based solutions? Which sectors are driving demand?
Biometrics market in India is projected to grow at a robust CAGR of over 35% till 2020 according to “India Biometrics Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2020”. Growth in the market is anticipated on account of increasing use of IRIS/Fingerprint biometric products in government and BFSI sector across the country. Increasing use in corporate houses, schools and industries for identity and access management coupled with rising demand from IT/ITeS to authenticate access to confidential information are other factors that are expected to propel market growth over the next five years.
In India, we have a huge scope for iris recognition technology as it is about “Who you are” and not about “What you can carry” or “What you can remember” and considering the working class population of India.
In terms of applications, this technology has generated tremendous demand from the following segments. For example, consider government welfare schemes. Various government sectors in India provide public services and welfare schemes for the benefit of people in the society. Iris recognition technologies are increasingly being employed for large scale applications, especially in government supported projects. Like Aadhaar initiative which was taken by the government, IRIS recognition can be used in the pension as well as in PDS. By doing so, it can be rest assured that the right person is getting the welfare benefits with this beneficiary authentication method.
In the BFSI and telecom sector, opening a new bank account, getting a new credit card or issuance of new SIM can be possible within just a matter of few minutes as KYC details of every consumer can be accessed from Aadhaar database and verified using iris scanner. Even ATM transactions can be made more secured using Iris enabled authentication. Along with debit card and PIN, having iris scanners at ATM machine will act as additional secured authentication using biometric properties.
In the case of automobiles, IRIS-based solutions can be used to unlock your car or bike with the blink of an eye. An iris scanner can be integrated in car or bike. Without your Iris scan the vehicle will not be unlocked and thus will reduce thefts of automobiles significantly. Thus it can be combined with key to act as a double layered security mechanism.
In the case of the medical or healthcare sector, a patient’s medical history and personal information is very critical and confidential which should be accessible only when the patient or doctor is available.The iris biometric technology will help patients not to carry any physical documents while visiting medical practitioner and allowing practitioner to retrieve medical history of the patients without any gaps and resulting into right diagnoses.
At airports and borders, the security check can be time consuming. Also there are cases of identity theft and change of identity which can be of serious nature. This again can be eliminated as iris scanners can provide the highest levels of security compared to other forms of biometric methods.
How can Iris recognition technology be useful in e-governance? Please give some examples?
70% of the population in India belongs to the labor class. When someone is constantly doing hard labor, there is a possibility that their fingerprint keeps changing as they are one of the most abused part on human body. Their finger may develop cuts and bruises as they do not protections. This creates a problem when you have to use a fingerprint scanner. It does not match to your saved data. All the features in your body will undergo daily changes accept your eyes which remains same from the time of your birth till death. Hence iris scanning proves to be one of the most accurate forms of biometric identification.
When Aadhaar was introduced in India, it required two forms of biometrics, one was fingerprint and the other was Iris. That’s where we saw a big opportunity. We chose Iris technology because at that time there were only 12 companies in the international market. And there was no Indian name amongst these. We became the first Indian company to enter this field when we were certified with STQC certificate from DeitY, New Delhi. We had started working on our business model in June 2012. The technology goes well with the “Make in India” initiative of GoI. Thus, we bring the heritage of Indian software superiority to the world. We have designed our product after keeping in mind the Indian demography and considering working conditions of India’s population who is engaged in manual labor.
Iris recognition as an authentication method has a wide range of applications in government’s Public Distribution System (PDS), Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), Pension and MNREGA schemes which could be used for identifying individuals. The technology has already been implemented in 12 districts of Andhra Pradesh where we have also earned the largest order in India for 33,310 Iris Authentication scanners for beneficiary authentication.
How can this technology help in curbing crime?
Even if an individual’s laptop or mobile is lost or stolen nobody can access the device if it’s operated through the Iris recognition technology. The Iris biometric is quite compatible with any application which requires username or password. The Iris Authentication Scanners can also be integrated with ATM machines reducing the use and cost of Credit/Debit and Passwords which can easily be forgotten or noted. Every digital or online payment will be connected to Aadhaar database. While performing online transactions, there will be an additional step for iris biometric check. The scanned Iris will be captured and verified with the Aadhaar database and the same will be monitored by the bank. There is further verification performed by the bank to check if the Iris matches with the Aadhaar number which is linked to the account before approving the transaction. This will eradicate the scope for online fraudulent activities.
India is the only country with the largest biometric database available. No other country has adopted the biometric technology the way India has. Adoption and acceptance of this technology has been on the rise as of now. Even the new Government offices have introduced Aadhaar enabled biometric systems to mark attendance. Even at Fair Price shops the verification of the individual is done based on Aadhaar, which ensures that the right person is getting the right benefits. We have successfully supplied 33,310 scanners to the government of Andhra Pradesh which are being implemented for pension and ration distribution.
The latest iris scanner can be useful in our day to day lives as well. It can be fixed outside our door and used for key less entry. It can double up as additional security for mobiles and personal computers and even apps, email clients and social networking websites. Iris recognition technology eradicates manual validation and proxies, encourages punctuality and efficiency in schools and organizations where capturing attendance is mandatory. It can be further used for forensic & criminal investigation, for security checks at airports and border security. It can also be useful at data centers, labs, hospitals, banks and utility centers.
Considering that the country continues to face the danger of terrorist attacks, how can IRIS recognition technology help? Can such technology be integrated with CCTV cameras, and help in alerting the key stakeholders about the possibility of suspected terrorists or criminals, if a known face of a criminal is detected?
There is always a possibility that there are people who cross the border showing only their passport as their identification proof, but there is no thorough proof that the same person is returning to the country. In such cases the key stakeholders can conduct their IRIS recognition test to evaluate the exact identity of that particular person. For doing this, the stake holders should have backup of Aadhaar details stored in their systems. By doing this, there is a good possibility of avoiding any terrorist activities.
Can you name some of your clients in India, along with the way they use these solutions?
We are the only leading supplier of Iris Authentication scanner in the state of Andhra Pradesh which is the first state that has implemented Iris recognition technology for beneficiary authentication in PDS and Pension schemes. And now, the state of Rajasthan has taken the first step in adopting Iris Authentication Technology. There is a humongous opportunity that lies within this state and within India as they have vision of transparency in public sector to mitigate fraud for better trust and serviceability. Biomatiques has managed to supply 33,310 Iris Authentication Scanners so far to Andhra Pradesh Govt. which no other company has managed to achieve so far in India. In the private sector, Asian Paints was our first major client to go in for iris-based authentication scanners.
