New Delhi, Aug 17 (IANS): More than 40 crore people in India have been given Aadhaar unique identification numbers. By the end of 2014, the number of is expected to reach 60 crore, the government said Saturday.

“More than 40 crore and 29 lakh Aadhaar numbers have been issued till date and the process is continuing at a healthy pace. Only in the month of July, 2013, about two crore Aadhaar numbers have been generated,” the Planning Commission said in a statement.

These numbers are being issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) that works under the Planning Commission.

According to the statement, the authority would set up permanent centres in various states to facilitate enrollment of those who have been either left out in earlier drives or who wish to update their Aadhaar data.

“Recently, UIDAI also unveiled three new Aadhaar-enabled services - the authentication services using iris, authentication service using one-time pin and eKYC (electronic-know your customer) service, all of which have been developed to empower residents to authenticate anytime, anywhere using a digital platform,” the statement said.