Objective- To study the role of Aadhaar policy on welfare schemes andto examine the impact of the implementation of Unique Identification (UID) system on Real GDP Per Capita, Shadow Economy and Corruption Perception Index.
Methods- The analysis has been done via secondary data from Transparency International and World Bank’s website. The data covers Real GDP Per Capita, size of the Shadow Economy and Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for India, Malaysia, Brazil, Indonesia, and Ghana. Hypothesis testing method of statistics has been used to analyse the impact of UID system on Real GDP Per capita, size of the shadow economy and CPI. The data has been assessed in two parts; that is before the launch of UID system and after the launch of UID system in each of the countries: India, Malaysia, Brazil, Indonesia and Ghana.
Findings- The Indian government has released data showing that it saved a huge amount in 2016-17 by weeding out nearly one crore fake beneficiaries of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) by using Aadhaar and direct benefit transfer (DBT). ₹8,185 crore was saved from Direct Benefit Transfer of LPG subsidy (PAHAL scheme). Till February 2019, the government was successful in opening approximately 34 crore bank accounts under the Jan Dhan Yojana.
Three out of five countries show a significant change in their size of shadow economy while there is no impact of the implementation of the UID system on CPI and Real GDP Per Capita of any of the countries.