Hyderabad, July 5 (IANS): The Indian School of Business (ISB) on Wednesday announced it has launched a nation-wide research on Aadhaar, its impact and potential.

Under the Digital Identity Research Initiative (DIRI), it will engage with researchers and academic institutions from India and abroad to promote an ecosystem of academic research on Aadhaar.

The initial phase of the research will cover the impact of Aadhaar in areas such as benefit transfers, financial inclusion, healthcare schemes, public distribution systems and public policy.

DIRI has received support from Omidyar Network through a grant of $2 million for a period of two years, ISB said in a statement.

On this occasion, a 'State of Aadhaar Report 2016-17' was released. 

The report provides a first-of-its-kind overview of Aadhaar's technological and operational architecture, legal and governance framework, and its applications in financial inclusion, social protection and emerging uses in other sectors.

The report aims to facilitate a more data and evidence-centric understanding of the Aadhaar ecosystem and highlights important areas for future research.

India has the world's largest biometric enabled digital identity system in use and offers enormous potential to conduct multi-disciplinary research, the outcomes of which will have deep implications for India and the world, it said.

"We are confident that this research will be path-breaking and will translate into knowledge with immediate application for policy makers, educators, service providers and entrepreneurs," said Rajendra Srivastava, Dean, ISB.