UIDAI says it has not asked telecom operators to save toll number on phones

The Unique Identification Authority of India on Friday clarified that the default inclusion of its toll free number in phone number lists of users has nothing to do with the authority.

Over the past couple of days, Twitter has been abuzz with users sharing their phone contact lists which mysteriously had a toll-free number, 1800-300-1947, saved under "UIDAI".

Hi @UIDAI,

Many people, with different provider, with and without an #Aadhaar card, with and without the mAadhaar app installed, noticed that your phone number is predefined in their contact list by default and so without their knowledge. Can you explain why? Regards, — Elliot Alderson (@fs0c131y) August 2, 2018

Check your phone contacts: You may see an entry for UIDAI with the number 1800-300-1947. This has been pushed mysteriously thru the back end? If correct It means agencies can push anything into your phone without your knowledge. And extract anything. — Varun Perumalla (@PerumallaVarun) August 3, 2018

UIDAI is the agency that administers Aadhaar numbers. It said the toll free number appearing in phone books was "outdated and invalid".

While most users who raised this issue on Twitter were using Android, Moneycontrol found some iPhone users who were surprised to find the number in their contact lists as well.

"UIDAI has not asked or communicated to any manufacturer or service provider for providing any such facility whatsoever," UIDAI said in a statement.

The Cellular Operators Association of India also tweeted a response denying that phone manufacturers were asked to add any phone numbers to people's phonebooks:

The inclusion of a certain unknown number in the phonebooks of various mobile handsets is not from any telecom service provider. @airtelindia@VodafoneIN@reliancejio@ideacellular#UIDAI#CustomerFirst — COAI (@ConnectCOAI) August 3, 2018