UIDAI, which issues national identity numbers to residents in the country, has roped in state-run Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL) to print Aadhaar cards to increase and expedite their distribution.

TCIL will start printing Aadhaar numbers generated by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) at its facility in Mumbai tomorrow, Deputy Director General of the authority Kumar Alok told PTI.

"It will help in printing of about five lakh Aadhaar cards in a day", he added.

Besides the Mumbai facility, TCIL will soon float tenders to set up two more units having a capacity of 5 lakh each, which will be operational by December end.

TCIL, he further said, "will only be responsible for printing Aadhaar numbers and supply them to India Post for mailing it to residents. Besides, India Post will continue to print and post these numbers".

Initially, UIDAI had entrusted the printing and posting of Aadhaar cards to India Post, which could not manage the work load in view of its inadequate printing facilities at Kolkata and Delhi.

At present, India Post prints about 1.5 lakh Aadhaar cards a day whereas the UIDAI enrolls over 10 lakh residents daily, Alok said.

The printing capacity constraint has created a big backlog, he said, adding as many as 4 crore Aadhaar numbers, which were generated under the UIDAI scheme could not be printed and distributed.