Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India has agreed to share its database of more than 20 crore policyholders with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). This decision by LIC will provide great help to the UID project of the Government.

LIC is believed to have the most complete repository of individual data in the country.

With LIC sharing its database, it is expected that the UIDAI headed by Nandan Nilekani would be able to issue about 1 crore UID cards in the first year itself.

LIC will be the first organization from financial sector to share its data with UIDAI for the ambitious project.

The data provided by LIC will have to be supported by biometric information as well as photographs of the citizens.

"LIC has an interest in promoting the UID project. Once the system is in place, it will make it much easier for LIC to fulfil its know-your-customer requirements for buyers in rural areas where getting other documents as proof of address may be difficult," said an LIC official.