With the government gearing up to implement Aadhaar based e-payment system to check pilferage in social schemes, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday called for expanding such pilot projects to more states and areas.

His comments came after the Task Force on Aaadhar-Enabled Unified Payment Infrastructure, headed by UIDAI-Chairman Nandan Nilekani, submitted its final report to Mukherjee.

The report has recommended, among other things, hiring of 10 lakh business correspondents to facilitate banking and financial services in rural areas that do not have access to full fledged banking services.

"Pilot projects be upscaled and implemented in more areas and in more States," Mukherjee said.

So far pilot projects on Aadhaar-enabled e-payment system are mainly implemented in the areas of LPG, kerosene, MGNREGS and fertilisers which can be further expanded, he added.

Currently, a pilot project to make payment for MGNREGA is being implemented in Jharkhand, LPG distribution in Mysore (Karnataka) and opening of bank accounts in Tumkur (Karnataka). One pilot project for mobile verification in Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh) is also proposed.

"Aadhaar-Enabled e-payment system would help not only in ensuring timely payments directly to intended beneficiaries but would also help in reducing the (processing) time taken, transaction costs and the leakages among others," he said.

Nilekani said a strategic transformation of the governance can be brought about by the usage of electronic payments across the board.

"Transacting all government business using electronic payments will help reduce graft, and bring about greater transparency and accountability", the panel pointed out.

The Task Force has recommended a systematic platform based approach for electronic payments to the intended beneficiaries of various social sector schemes.