Aadhaar activates voice agents for 4 crore Indians
How Sarvam AI partnered with UIDAI to deploy sovereign, air-gapped voice agents for Aadhaar services reaching 4-6 crore residents.
Background
Aadhaar operates at a scale few systems globally reach. Over a billion Indians rely on it for identity verification across public and private services. As operations expanded, UIDAI needed more direct communication with residents. Reaching 4 crore citizens for services like Jeevan Pramaan Patra and age verification required infrastructure that works across languages, literacy levels, and varied contexts. Voice became the natural interface.
For senior citizens above 70 verifying their status, or pensioners submitting proof of life, voice input removes language and app access barriers. With security in mind, any solution had to work within Aadhaar's air-gapped infrastructure. Data could not leave UIDAI systems. The solution had to function reliably without introducing new risks into critical national infrastructure.
Solution
In March 2025, UIDAI partnered with Sarvam AI to deploy a full-stack GenAI platform hosted on-premise within air-gapped UIDAI infrastructure. All components from model, inference, orchestration, and interaction logic run within the UIDAI ecosystem and network. Resident data never leaves UIDAI's secure environment.
Sarvam worked directly with UIDAI's Technology Centre in Bengaluru to develop and deploy voice agents for a range of Aadhaar use-cases.
- Voice-based interactions: Voice-based interactions for near real-time feedback on enrolment and update processes, including detection of resident overcharging.
- Fraud alerts: Real-time alerts when suspicious authentication activity is detected, enabling immediate resident response.
- Jeevan Pramaan verification: Information dissemination about Aadhaar app onboarding, and digital life certificate application and verification for pensioners, removing the need for physical visits while maintaining authentication legitimacy.
- Age verification (70+): Age verification for senior citizens, designed to be accessible for elderly residents who may not be comfortable with apps or forms.
This deployment runs fully air-gapped, on infrastructure we control, with end-to-end data residency. With Sarvam, we’re showing that critical systems don’t have to choose between adopting AI and staying sovereign.
Bhuvnesh Kumar
CEO, UIDAI
4Cr
Residents served
100%
Air-gapped & sovereign
4+
Use cases deployed
Impact
Voice agents now handle enrolment feedback, fraud alerts, and life certification for millions of residents, entirely within air-gapped infrastructure. For a specific resident population, the impact is tangible. Senior citizens above 70 complete age verification through a phone call in their language, without navigating apps or visiting offices. Pensioners submit Jeevan Pramaan digitally through voice, removing friction from a process that previously required physical presence or digital literacy. When suspicious authentication activity is detected, residents receive immediate alerts they can understand and act on.
With 4-6 crore residents across these use cases, the voice agent operates at a scale few voice AI deployments globally have attempted, particularly under sovereign infrastructure constraints. The project establishes a working reference for how AI can be deployed in air-gapped, population-scale systems.