The UIDAI has issued 13.80 crore Aadhaar cards till March 7, Minister of State for Planning Ashwani Kumar has said.

"As many as 13.80 crore Aadhaar have been issued as on March 7, 2012, against 19.29 (crore) resident data packets received at the Central Identities Data Repository," Kumar said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

Till February, the expenditure incurred for UIDAI roll out stood at Rs 773.24 crore.

Kumar said the government has approved cost estimates of Rs 8,962 crore for phases I, II and III of the scheme for the period up to March, 2017.

He said the Standing Committee on Finance in its report on the National Identification Authority Bill, 2010, has said that Aadhaar numbers be given to every resident and there should not be any restriction.

"Enrolment of residents is carried out by registrars who collect biometric and demographic data through enrolment agencies. The UIDAI has been giving assistance to Registrars at the rate of Rs 50 per successful aadhaar generation," Kumar said.

The Aadhaar scheme aims to provide each citizen with a 12-digit unique number to ensure, among other things, that the funds allocated by the Centre for various schemes directly reach the beneficiaries.