Digital Public Services: The Development of Biometric Authentication in India

Abstract

AbstractLow state capacity makes it difficult for governments in developing countries to deliver resources to the poor. In this chapter, we highlight the role that biometric authentication can play in delivering payments and subsidized food to the poor. We describe the implementation and evaluation of two different biometric authentication systems in Andhra Pradesh (“AP Smartcards”) and Jharkhand (“Aadhaar”), India. Results from two large-scale RCTs (Muralidharan et al., 2016 and Muralidharan et al., 2020b) showed that more accurate biometric ID systems, coupled with payments and policy reforms, reduced leakages in welfare schemes in both Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand. However, there were varying results on beneficiary welfare. In Jharkhand, reduced fiscal leakage came at the expense of excluding genuine beneficiaries who were unable to meet new standards for identification. Exclusion of beneficiaries was low in Andhra Pradesh, where the government was more focused on improving beneficiary experience with welfare programs. The studies discussed in this chapter highlight how differences in policy priorities and the details of solution design influence the extent to which beneficiaries benefit from biometric authentication and accompanying reforms.