Is UK Going The Aadhaar Way? Why Keir Starmer Met UIDAI Head Nandan Nilekani On India Visit

Infosys co-founder and UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani was among the first people who British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met as he arrived in India for his first official trip, months after London and New Delhi signed a landmark free trade agreement.

Starmer, who arrived in Mumbai for a two-day visit on Wednesday (October 8), also attended the Global Fintech Fest 2025 alongside Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

At the event, Modi highlighted India’s achievements in digital innovation – from Aadhaar to UPI and DigiLocker to DigiYatra – and said the country today is one of the most “technologically inclusive societies” in the world. Starmer, it seems, would like to agree as The Guardian reported that his government is looking to create its own version

of an Aadhaar-like digital identification system.

His meeting with Nilekani had more to do with what can be learnt from the success of the scheme rather than to talk about any commercial arrangement with Infosys. Praising the Aadhaar system as a “massive success”, he said a digital ID system like that of India’s can be rolled out in the United Kingdom as a voluntary measure that can be applied to school applications, mortgages and driving licences.

According to The Guardian report, the UK Prime Minister’s meeting with Nilekani was to discuss the rollout speed in India and the transformation of the direct benefit transfer (DBT).

There are, however, reservations among the British population on his keen interest in the Indian scheme, which he sees as being part of the UK benefits system. But he hopes it will regain public confidence when people understand the convenience that it can provide.

“I don’t know how many times the rest of you have had to look in the bottom drawer for three bills when you want to get your kids into school or apply for this or apply for that, drives me to frustration,” he was quoted as saying earlier. “I do think that we could gain a significant advantage. We’re going to a country, India, where they’ve already done ID and made a massive success of it. So one of the meetings I’ll be having is about ID, in relation to that.”