Batch Aadhaar masking
Mask Aadhaar numbers across your whole document archive
ARCHIVES ALREADY MASKED IN BATCH
Utkarsh Small Finance Bank
2.8 lakh
Aadhaar documents masked in one week on a 16-core server, fully offline.
Read the case studyChoice Finserv
1.5 million
Documents on Amazon S3 classified and masked at 95% accuracy.
Read the case studyAavas Financiers
25 TB+
Of financial documents secured with Aadhaar masking built into DocuSwift.
Read the case studyWonder Home Finance
2 TB
Of loan files masked inside an air-gapped DMS, at 99% accuracy.
Read the case study
HOW A BATCH RUN WORKS
From a full archive to masked copies and a record per file
Batch masking is for the documents you already hold: years of loan files, KYC forms and statements in a document management system or on Amazon S3. It masks them in one run, so the stored copy becomes the redacted one.
Point it at the archive
Send ZIP files of up to 500 MB through the API, or run it folder in, folder out on your own servers.
Skip what does not need masking
Documents are classified first, so files without Aadhaar data, or already masked, are not processed again.
Cover numbers and QR codes
The first eight digits are covered and the last four stay readable. Aadhaar QR codes are covered whole, in English and Hindi documents.
Run in parallel
About 500 pages a minute with 40 parallel masking environments.
Keep the evidence
Each run records what was found and covered: in every API answer, or as a spreadsheet per run on-premises.
WHERE IT RUNS
Run batch masking where your documents already are
Your own servers, offline
A Docker container on internal servers with no internet access, as at Utkarsh, Art Housing Finance and Wonder Home Finance.
Your AWS account
Files are masked in your own S3 bucket and deleted within a day, billed with your AWS charges.
Hosted API
Send ZIP files of up to 500 MB to HabileLabs' API in AWS Mumbai. Documents are deleted within one to two days.
WHO NEEDS IT
Any organization that stores Aadhaar copies
If you collect Aadhaar copies from customers, employees or vendors, they have to be masked before they are stored.
NBFCs and banks
KYC files, account records and loan documents.
Government agencies
Citizen records, welfare programmes and administrative files.
Healthcare
Patient records, medical billing and insurance claims.
Insurance companies
Customer documents collected as proof of identity.
HR departments
Employee records that hold Aadhaar copies.
Educational institutions
Student records at universities and other institutions.
THE RULES
The regulations behind Aadhaar masking
UIDAI's masked form covers the first eight digits of an Aadhaar number and leaves the last four readable. These are the rules that require it.
UIDAI, 23 October 2018
Aadhaar amendment ordinance F.No.13012/171/2018/Legal/UIDAI/114: only the last four digits may be visible when Aadhaar copies are stored or shared.
RBI, Master Direction on KYC, 2016 (updated 29 May 2019)
RBI/DBR/2015-16/18, DBR.AML.BC.No.81/14.01.001/2015-16, amended by RBI/2018-19/190, DBR.AML.BC.No.39/14.01.001/2018-19. The requirement now sits in paragraph 23 of the RBI (Commercial Banks – KYC) Directions, 2025.
IRDAI, 29 January 2019
Aadhaar accepted as a KYC document under certain conditions, Ref: IRDAI/SDD/Cl R/MISC/020/01/2019.
SEBI, 24 April 2020
Clarification on the Know Your Client process and the use of technology for KYC.
Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023
Penalties of up to ₹250 crore for failing to take reasonable security safeguards; the penalty provisions commence on 13 May 2027.
QUESTIONS
Batch masking questions
Batch masking processes the documents you already hold, such as historical loan and KYC files, in one run instead of one file at a time. It is usually a one-time job on your own servers, followed by masking at the point of capture.
About 500 pages a minute with 40 parallel masking environments. Utkarsh Small Finance Bank's 2.8 lakh documents were masked in one week on a 16-core server.
Yes. The on-premises edition runs in Docker on your own servers. Utkarsh, Art Housing Finance and Wonder Home Finance all ran it fully offline.
Card photos, e-Aadhaar PDFs, deeds and agreements, application forms, statements, Excel files and ZIP archives, with the folder structure kept. It reads English and Hindi.
Yes. For Utkarsh, AI and OCR first reported which files were already masked, so only documents that still needed masking entered the pipeline.
Under UIDAI's format, a masked Aadhaar hides the first eight digits of the Aadhaar number and shows only the last four. Organizations can keep Aadhaar copies on file while protecting the holder's privacy.
No. The full Aadhaar number cannot be stored in downstream systems and databases. A regulated entity with an Aadhaar Vault may keep the full number in the vault and use a surrogate number everywhere else.