100 Cr people, or 90% of India’s population, now have an Aadhaar UID. If you’re part of the other 10%, now might be a good time to get yourself one – the process is easy thanks to multiple centres and a simple process. You can even book an online appointment at some centres!

With this widespread adoption, government and businesses are starting to use Aadhaar in creative & interesting ways to make life easier for the people of India. 

Here are 5 ways in which Aadhaar is already making things easier for you.

1. It’s an address proof

Young people, especially those working away from home, know how painful it is to get an address proof for various things. Your Aadhaar UID can be used as an address proof for almost every task. From Passport to opening a bank account, your Aadhaar can act as your address proof. Now when you move, changing the address is a breeze.

2. Open a bank account, invest in mutual funds or get an insurance policy

Digibank by DBS recently became the first to open a bank account completely on the basis of Aadhaar. SEBI has permitted KYC for mutual funds investing to be done via Aadhaar and many companies (including Scripbox) will offer this soon. This extends to getting an insurance policy as well. No need for KYC compliance if you have Aadhaar.

3. You won’t need to post an Income Tax Returns Verification acknowledgement 

With Aadhaar, the entire tax filing process becomes paperless for you. You can e-verify your IT returns by generating an Aadhaar OTP. You can even log into your Income tax digital vault which stores past returns and notifications using Aadhaar.

4. Withdrawing from your Employees Provident Fund account becomes easier 

Aadhaar can be linked to your EPF Universal Account Number. This allows you to directly approach EPFO for withdrawal. This allows you to bypass your employer in cases where either you can’t reach them or they are not proving helpful. 

5. You get all your government benefits directly to your bank account 

Most people are familiar with how you get the subsidy part of the price of the LPG cylinder directly to your bank account. Aadhaar simplifies and automates the process. While subsidies may not be relevant to most people reading this article – knowing that your taxes are getting more efficiently utilised is. And for your parents or older relatives Aadhaar makes the pension process easy.

Getting your Aadhaar number is Step 1. Step 2 is to remember it just like you remember your mobile number and your PAN number. Your Aadhaar number is likely to become almost as valuable.