New Delhi, Jan. 15 (PTI): The UIDAI has decided to allow face recognition for those who cannot offer fingerprints and iris scans, the two measures used now for its unique identity number Aadhaar.

The Unique Identification Authority of India said the facility, to be available from July 1, would be allowed only in a “fusion mode”— i.e., along with other existing biometric means of authentication.

”This facility is going to help in inclusive authentication of those who are not able to biometrically authenticate due to their worn out fingerprints, old age or hard work conditions,” the Unique Identification Authority of India said.

Face recognition will be allowed only on a “need basis”, and only in combination with either fingerprints or iris-scans or a one-time password.

Last week, the UIDAI had announced the biggest overhaul of the Aadhaar system, promising to allow individuals to create their own virtual ID for the increase number of public authorities, government departments and private service providers such as mobile telephony companies.

The virtual ID, to be offered from March 1, will be mapped to a person’s actual Aadhaar number, which will not be seen by those authenticating their identity.

The UIDAI has created 1.2 billion biometric ID numbers since it was set up in 2010.