ETtech Explainer: Behind crackdown on unauthorised use of govt databases for user onboarding

The Union government is restricting private firms from using official databases like Aadhaar to offer identity verification services to their clients as part of a crackdown on unauthorised access to sensitive databases.

According to two people in the know, officials of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) have conveyed to the executives of multiple technology-led startups to abstain from offering offline Aadhaar-based KYC services because they have been doing it through unauthorised channels.