The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) announced on Saturday that the compulsory biometric update (MBU) fee of Aadhaar for children has been completely waived. This new rule has come into force from 1 October 2025 and will last for the next one year.
UIDAI says that about 6 crore children will benefit from this move. To make the base of children younger than 5 years, their photo, name, date of birth, gender, address and birth certificate are required. Fingerprints and iris are not taken biometrics at this age, because they are not fully developed yet. According to the current rules, it is necessary to update the fingerprints, iris and photos of children after the age of 5 years.
The second update is to be made at the age of 15-17 years. Earlier, these updates were free for children aged 5-7 years and 15-17 year old, but in the rest of the cases there was a charge of Rs 125 per MBU. Now UIDAI has completely free MBU for all children of 5-17 years. This means, now parents will not have to pay any money for children’s Aadhaar updates. This step will help in updating the Aadhaar of children easily and will provide financial relief to millions of families.
Advice to parents
UIDAI has advised parents and parents to get the Aadhaar biometrics updated as soon as possible for their children. With this, children will be able to take advantage of different government and education schemes easily. This will make it easier for them to take advantage of facilities like scholarship and DBT schemes in taking admission in school. This new rule will make Aadhaar services easier and cheaper for children. Also, this decision also shows the importance of Aadhaar for children.