Efforts are underway to link the Unique Identification Number(UID) project with financial inclusion programme of the country, a top bank official said here today.

"We are trying to link financial inclusion programme with Nandan Nilekani-led UID project. In this way the banks will get to acquire customers whose antecedents have already been verified," Chairman and Managing Director National Housing Bank, S Sridhar, said.

"This would be a very cost effective way of reaching out to customers at a time when banks are grappling with the issues related to client identity," he said adding this is a godsend opportunity for bankers to fix identity related problems.

Only 45 per cent people in the country have got bank accounts. How do we cover the remaining 55 per cent in next five years is the challenge, Sridhar said, adding the aim is to achieve 100 per cent financial inclusion in the country over next five years.

"Each bank will need to estimate that how many of them shall become bankable in what duration of time," Sridhar said, who is also the Chairman and Managing Director of Central Bank of India.

"My bank has opened 45 lakh accounts in last 18 months of people who are getting subsidy under NREGA, and have begun financing them through overdraft facility of upto Rs 1,500 per account," he said.

Incidentally, chief of UID project Nandan Nilekani made a presentation to top bankers in Mumbai yesterday and discussed how banks could help achieve financial inclusion by making use of unique identification number