Microsoft Corp to launch Skype with Aadhaar authentication

Bullish on cloud computing, Microsoft Corp will launch Skype with Aadhaar authentication to allow access to bank accounts using webcam, chief executive Satya Nadella said on Thursday.

The US technology giant is bringing cloud and world class artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to India, use of which will cut costs and remove frictions.

"Data is clearly the new currency, whether it's industry, education or the public sector. The function is not just collecting data but drawing insights from it," he told CNBC TV18.

He expected governments, PSUs, private firms and startups to take up cloud computing in a big way as was done by state- owned lender SBI.
"We are also working with the India Stack in a very strategic way. So when we bring in our cloud, it is not just about our cloud, but about how does it compose or work with and integrate with the India Stack.

"We in fact are going to launch Skype with Aadhaar authentication. So, you can as a consumer now not only use Skype but you can in fact use Skype to access whether it is bank accounts, or it is the ration shop or anything else because of the ability to have the India Stack come to their work right in Skype," he said.

Nadella, who yesterday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said Microsoft is working with the Indian government in a "strategic way" and will soon launch Skype with Aadhaar authentication using its Stack cloud platform.

"Leveraging the India Stack will let people access bank accounts, ration shops via Sykpe," he said.

On US President Donald Trump's immigration policies, he said America is a "land of immigrants" and stands for inclusion and diversity.
He said he himself had benefited from USA's enlightened immigration policy and none can live in isolation.

Nadella said State Bank of India (SBI) is moving to cloud. "As a regulated entity this is I think a very big milestone for them to adopt the cloud, bring the next level of productivity tools for all employees of the bank and how they in fact work with their customers. So, that is another big initiative," he said.

The building of unique identification Aadhaar infrastructure is a vision of going from presence less to paperless, he said.

"It is just very enlightened. So, the way at least we look at it is if anything -- how does the technology adoption across the broad spectrum of the industry and the economy get facilitated by the work we do as well as the work the government does because ultimately it is about removing friction and lowering cost so that there can be more computing that can help every Indian and every Indian organisation," he added.