Bengaluru, 16 September 2026: Food and Civil Supplies Minister Rizwan Arshad has directed officials to take immediate action to resolve server and technical issues affecting the e-KYC process for ration card beneficiaries and to work towards a permanent solution to recurring problems.
Minister held an emergency meeting with senior officials, representatives of the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and Karnataka State Data Centre (KSDC) at Vikas Soudha on Wednesday. He instructed officials from NIC, KSDC and the department to coordinate and resolve technical issues immediately whenever they are reported.
As per the Targeted Public Distribution System (Control) Amendment Order issued by the Central Government on July 22, 2025, eligible ration card beneficiaries must be periodically verified, with e-KYC made mandatory once every five years.
Accordingly, details of 2,67,64,276 beneficiaries whose five-year e-KYC period has been completed were obtained from NIC. District joint and deputy directors have been instructed to take necessary steps to complete the re-e-KYC process. The deadline for completing the process has been set for September 30, 2026.
With a large number of beneficiaries visiting fair price shops during September, server and technical issues have been reported in some locations. Minister directed officials to ensure that such problems are addressed without delay through coordinated action.
Mobile-Based Face Authentication Facility Under Development
To reduce the need for beneficiaries to visit fair price shops, a facility is being developed in collaboration with the Directorate of Electronic Delivery of Citizen Services to enable e-KYC through Face Authentication using mobile phones.
Mobile application is expected to be released for public use within a week. Once available, beneficiaries will be able to complete the e-KYC process independently through their mobile phones. Department has also provided separate URLs in the Food Department application to facilitate the e-KYC process. For the first time in the state, load testing is being conducted to assess the capacity and performance of the Food Department’s server.
37% of Re-e-KYC Completed
Of the 2,67,64,276 beneficiaries required to complete re-e-KYC, 97,54,197 beneficiaries had completed the process so far, accounting for approximately 37%. An average of 5.40 lakh beneficiaries are completing e-KYC every day, according to the department. Minister stated that the Food Department’s server-related problems had existed for some time and that, after assuming charge as Food Minister, he had appointed a third-party agency to work towards providing a permanent solution.
He said all necessary measures would be taken to resolve issues in the department’s server and technical systems within the next month. Ensuring that the public does not face unnecessary inconvenience and making technology-based services simpler, faster and more effective remain priorities of the government, the Minister said. Secretary Kanagavalli and other senior officials attended the meeting.
Keywords: Karnataka ration card e-KYC, Rizwan Arshad, e-KYC server issues, Food Department Karnataka, ration card re-e-KYC deadline, face authentication e-KYC