Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani on Thursday took over as head of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIAI), which has been tasked to create a national database of identity details of citizens.
Nilekani said the first set of database would be ready in 12 to 18 months time as announced by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his budget speech.
"We will be issuing the first set of identification numbers in 12 to 18 months," he told reporters in New Delhi. Nilekani said Ram Sevak Sharma, a 1978 batch Jharkhand cadre IAS officer, will take over as Secretary and CEO of the organisation.
Nilekani, who was appointed as head of UIAI on July 13, said it would take few weeks for them to "get the team together"
"We will use biometrics, but we still have not decided what that set will be," he said.
"It will take us few weeks to stabilise and figure out the team size. It will take us few weeks to get our thoughts together," he added.
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