The long-wait for the unique identity number would soon be over with the UIDAI, which issues Aadhaar cards, deciding to inform residents about their numbers through e-mails and SMSes, before sending it by post.

"We are going to introduce a system next month through which all unique identity numbers would be communicated through SMS and e-mail to the concerned persons before they get their Aadhaar cards by post," Deputy Director General of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Kumar Alok told PTI.

At present, it takes months before the unique Aadhaar number is received by the concerned person by post. The delay, according to officials, is mainly on account of the inability of the India Post to print and dispatch the UIDAI cards.

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

At present, India Post prints about 1.5 lakh Aadhaar cards a day whereas the UIDAI enrolls over 10 lakh residents daily, Alok said adding that the authority has so far issued 2.5 crore Aadhaar cards to the residents.

In order to the speed up the dispatches, the authority has tied up with state-run Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL) to print Aadhaar cards to increase and expedite their distribution. MORE KKS CS MR

TCIL, on last Friday, has made operational a facility at Mumbai which would ultimately print 5 lakh Aadhaar cards.

Besides the firm will also set up two more facilities with same capacity at other locations by the end of next month.

Aadhaar numbers are expected to used as the 'know you customer' (KYC) norm by various service providers like banks, telecom firms and government in the due course of time for providing subsidies to beneficiaries of various social sector schemes.