Digi Yatra to expand to 15 more airports in India, says Siddharth Verma

Digi Yatra, an initiative co-ordinated by the civil aviation ministry to ensure seamless travel for passengers from the airport gates to boarding a flight, will be available in 15 more airports this fiscal, Siddharth Verma, head of IT operations at Digi Yatra Foundation, said.
"All the metros are done and all the big airports are done. So now we are left with the smaller airports where the ministry evaluates if there is a need at all or not. Because at times you don't need such solutions if the volume is very low, or there is just one gate," he told Business Standard.
Five of the new airports include Mangalore, Trivandrum, Srinagar, Chandigarh, and Nagpur. The rest are managed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), whose infrastructure is ready but where technology integration is still under way.
India has 24 of its major airports covered under Digi Yatra, covering nearly 90 per cent of outbound passenger traffic, Verma added. The upcoming airports in Navi Mumbai and Noida are not part of the 15, he clarified.
Digi Yatra's technology, launched in 2022, has revolutionised travel across Indian airports through the implementation of self-sovereign identity or decentralised ID, which allows users to control their online information. Authentication is done through two documents: the Aadhaar and the boarding pass.
To date, the app has been downloaded 14 million times and has facilitated more than 56 million journeys across Indian airports.
'It should be like a walk in the park, a kind of experience where nobody should ask for your documents. You just show your face and keep walking through the touchpoints seamlessly and don't have to exchange your documents with anyone.'
The Digi Yatra app is linked with the UIDAI ecosystem. When a passenger downloads the app, fills in the required details — including the Aadhaar number — and receives an OTP to authenticate, UIDAI sends the Aadhaar details to the phone.
'Then your proof of presence is established by taking your selfie and matching it with the image on your Aadhaar. These two must match. We then create a verified credential (VC), which is like a digital photocopy with a digital stamp called proof value. This proof value, along with the ID document, is stored in the Digi Yatra wallet on the user's phone until it is deleted by the user.'
Even with Aadhaar, Digi Yatra follows what Verma terms data minimisation. Only the passenger's name, gender, date of birth, and masked Aadhaar number are taken. 'Your address is not pulled because it is not required for this use case. Privacy by design means data minimisation must be embedded at the core.'
The second step involves uploading the boarding pass. The technology pulls data from the QR code, including date of travel, name, seat number, PNR, origin, destination, and sequence number.
'When you link your boarding pass, we match the name linked earlier from your Aadhaar with the name on the boarding pass. If these match, along with the real-time facial image clicked at the airport, the gate opens. All this happens automatically. There is no human intervention,' Verma explains.
Asked about data security concerns, he said data shared with the origin airport is deleted from Digi Yatra's biometric gallery within 24 hours of flight departure. 'The data becomes instantly obsolete. That's how the architecture is designed. Airports also cannot retain the data as per policy.'
Digi Yatra also conducts annual audits at the enabled airports to ensure compliance with these policy guidelines and verify that systemic scripts are in place. 'Some airports delete it within four hours, some within five. Others delete it as per the policy required by the CISF and other security agencies.'

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Indian Express

28 minutes ago

• Indian Express

When PM Modi went to Cyprus: A Mediterranean push, a buffer against Turkey

Written by Shairee Malhotra On June 15, Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in the island nation of Cyprus on a two-day visit, marking the third by an Indian PM after Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2002, as a key stopover on his way to the G7 summit in Canada. This marked Modi's first foreign tour since Operation Sindoor against the backdrop of escalating tensions in the Middle East and volatile global developments. As evident in Modi's visit in February to the port city of Marseille in France, which also recently hosted the inaugural edition of Raisina MED — an extension of New Delhi's flagship Raisina Dialogue — India is keenly watching and investing in its outreach to the Mediterranean. With its strategic location in the Eastern Mediterranean at the crossroads of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, Cyprus is positioning itself as a key partner and important node towards realising the India-Middle East-Europe-Economic Corridor (IMEC) linking India to Europe. This convergent outlook on connectivity underpins the two countries' interest in expanding ties. Modi's visit focused on boosting avenues for India-Cyprus bilateral collaboration across a range of sectors from trade and investment to innovation, security and connectivity, and mobility and tourism. Referring to Cyprus as the 'gateway into Europe' for Indian companies, President Nikos Christodoulides and Modi addressed economic stakeholders at the India-Cyprus CEO Forum in Limassol, pitching greater business linkages in the areas of civil aviation, shipbuilding, startups, infrastructure and innovation. Bilateral trade in 2023-2024 was valued at $136.96 million, and a newly launched trilateral India-Greece-Cyprus (IGC) Business and Investment Council is likely to accelerate this. Already, Cyprus, with a population of only 1.3 million, is among the top 10 sources of Foreign Direct Investment into India due to its friendly taxation regime and the routing of various European investments via Cyprus. Freshly signed MoUs between NSE International Exchange Gift City and Cyprus Stock Exchange will bolster financial ties. Moreover, Cyprus may become the second European country after France to adopt India's UPI for cross-border transactions. In tandem with recent custom, Modi also interacted with the 11,000-strong Indian diaspora in Cyprus, with plans for direct air connectivity and enhanced people-to-people ties on the radar. As the India-EU entente strengthens across multiple sectors from technology and trade to security and defence, this outreach to Cyprus forms part of a robust and expanded Indian footprint in Europe, moving beyond traditional power centres and tapping new geopolitically significant geographies. In recent years, New Delhi has deepened its engagement with the Central and Eastern Europe region, the Nordics, the Baltics and now increasingly the Mediterranean. Meanwhile, Cyprus's upcoming six-month Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2026 is an opportunity to shape narratives at the EU level and progress towards concluding the India-EU Free Trade Agreement, already touted as a priority by the Cypriot government. The visit was strategically timed on the heels of rising Indian tensions with Turkey that provided overt political and military support in the form of drones, cargo planes and a warship to Pakistan during clashes following the terrorist attack in Pahalgam. Since then, India has attempted to galvanise countries to unify against terrorism and consolidate global support following Operation Sindoor and its targeting of Pakistan's terrorist infrastructure. Both India and Cyprus have historically reinforced each other's positions in their respective regional disputes on Kashmir and Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus. Considered amongst India's most 'time-trusted and dependable friends', Cyprus has supported a permanent seat for India on the United Nations Security Council, and its entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group. To counter a belligerent Turkey-Pakistan-Azerbaijan axis, India has systematically deepened relations with Greece, Cyprus and Armenia, which have their own troubled histories with this alignment. Against this backdrop, Modi's visit to the Green Line, the demilitarised buffer zone between Cyprus and the Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus, was a symbolic act of solidarity with the former. The India-Cyprus joint declaration devoted a substantial section towards counter-terrorism efforts, including dismantling of terrorist infrastructure and safe havens, coupled with strong Cypriot condemnation of the Pahalgam terrorist attack. The two countries are aiming to expand defence ties, building upon a previous MoU signed in 2022 and a Bilateral Defence Cooperation Programme (BDCP) in 2025, through greater defence industrial cooperation, new dialogues on maritime security and cybersecurity, and cooperation on crises responses and emerging technologies. Renewable energy is another area of convergence, given Cypriot efforts in gas exploration in the resource-laden Eastern Mediterranean and India's quest to diversify energy imports. As New Delhi and Nicosia upgrade their partnership and deliberate on the formation of a five-year roadmap for the future, harnessing economic and geopolitical synergies will pave the way for a promising, fresh era in Indo-Cypriot relations. The writer is Deputy Director and Europe Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation

India.com

34 minutes ago

• India.com

India's Export Sector Stands Strong Amid Rising Geopolitical Tensions: FIEO

New Delhi: While geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, including the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict, pose certain challenges to global trade dynamics, India's export sector remains resilient and adaptive, the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said on Monday. The country's trade with both Iran and Israel, while important, constitutes a small share of the overall export-import basket. "The government and industry are jointly monitoring developments to ensure minimal disruption," FIEO President S.C. Ralhan said. "We do anticipate some short-term impact on demand and logistics, particularly in the Gulf region, which serves as a crucial hub for Indian exports. Increased shipping costs, longer transit times, and rising marine insurance premiums may add pressure, especially in price-sensitive sectors," he said in a statement. A wider Middle East conflict is expected to have an impact on oil supplies from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait and the UAE, which would lead to a sharp spike in oil prices. Shipping could also get hit as Yemen's Houthi rebels have already warned that they would resume their attacks on ships if the US attacked Iran. India imports around 85 per cent of its crude oil requirement. However, Indian exporters have time and again demonstrated agility in re-routing shipments, diversifying markets, and managing financial exposures, the FIEO said. The robust MSMEs and large-scale exporters, coupled with strong government support mechanisms, will help cushion any near-term shocks. Crude oil price volatility is being closely watched, as it can influence both inflation and logistics costs. But India's diversified energy procurement strategy and the Reserve Bank's proactive stance help maintain liquidity and macroeconomic stability. "Overall, while there are temporary headwinds, we see this as an opportunity for Indian exporters to explore alternate routes, strengthen regional partnerships, and consolidate India's role as a reliable trade partner in uncertain times," Ralhan said. The FIEO said it is committed to supporting exporters with timely guidance, market intelligence, and policy advocacy to ensure continued momentum in our global trade journey. Meanwhile, India's total exports of merchandise and services stood at $71.12 billion in May, which represents a growth of 2.77 per cent over the same month of the previous year.

New Indian Express

36 minutes ago

• New Indian Express

Indian Army to get over four lakh close-quarter battle carbines

NEW DELHI: The Indian Army's search for the close-quarter battle weapon has culminated with the emergence of DRDO and Bharat Forge, an indigenous Private manufacturer, as the Lowest (L1) among the bidders for the project. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Monday said on X, 'Significantly boosting #atmanirbharta in critical technology, 5.56×45 mm CQB Carbine, designed and developed by Armament Research and Development Establishment(ARDE), DRDO selected as L1 in Indian Army Request for Proposal (RFP)'. As per the Acceptance of Necessity note issued by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in 2022 there is a requirement of 4,25,213 units of 5.56 x 45mm CQB Carbine. It is to be procured under the category 'Buy (Indian)'.