State-owned Indian Bank today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to act as a registrar for unique identification project 'Aadhar'.

Indian Bank is the seventh bank to have entered into such a MoU with the UIDAI for providing unique identification numbers to its existing customers, as well as future customers, by collecting biometric and demographic details as per UID norms, Indian Bank said in a statement.

Provisions will be made to use the system provided by UIDAI for real-time online authentication of identities for satisfying 'know-your-customer' (KYC) norms for opening 'no frills' savings accounts and making payments under various government schemes, it said.

As per the Financial Inclusion Plan 2010-2013, the bank will cover 5,563 villages across the country and cover 12.16 lakh households by opening 17.65 lakh 'no frill' accounts with an overdraft facility, it said.

With this, the bank will cover 87.73 lakh people in these villages, it said.