3 months ago
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The Digi Yatra Foundation is moving connected extending its decentralised integer individuality level to planetary aerial travel, with passport-based enrolment already tested and discussions nether mode with planetary aviation bodies, its Chief Executive Officer Suresh Khadakbhavi said astatine The Hindu Tech Summit 2026 connected Thursday (February 12, 2026).
Speaking with L.V. Navaneeth, CEO, The Hindu Group, during a fireside chat connected ‘Data Privacy & Security successful Biometric Travel Platform’, Mr. Khadakbhavi said the planned diagnostic would let passengers to stock verified integer credentials with some departure and destination airports, enabling seamless question without repeated individuality checks. “If you are travelling from Chennai to London, you tin stock credentials astatine Chennai, bask a seamless process, and erstwhile you scope London, you bash not person to basal successful two-hour queues again for immigration,” helium said.
Explaining the origins of Digi Yatra, Mr. Khadakbhavi said helium had earlier been portion of an advisory radical for One ID, a planetary seamless aerial question initiative, wherever discussions focused connected privacy-preserving technologies and self-sovereign identity. Self-sovereign identity, helium said, meant that individuals remained successful power of their individuality data, which led to the determination to physique a decentralised ecosystem alternatively than a centralised individuality platform.
Under the Digi Yatra model, enrolment is simply a one-time process, utilizing Aadhaar-based verification. Users authenticate via an OTP astatine the airdrome verifier, aft which constricted KYC information — name, day of birth, gender, photograph, and the past 4 digits of the Aadhaar fig — is retrieved. Mr. Khadakbhavi said this was importantly little accusation than what is routinely shared successful different settings, specified arsenic edifice check-ins.
To forestall misuse, the level incorporates liveness detection and facial matching. A unrecorded selfie is captured and matched with the KYC photograph, aft which the Aadhaar-linked representation is discarded for privateness reasons and lone the verified selfie is retained. Acknowledging the increasing sophistication of deepfake technologies, helium said aggregate safeguards were built into the system.
Decentralised system
Addressing concerns astir information security, Mr. Khadakbhavi said Digi Yatra follows a decentralised architecture successful which credentials reside connected users’ ain devices alternatively than successful a cardinal database. As a result, immoderate effort to breach the strategy would necessitate compromising idiosyncratic devices alternatively than a azygous repository.
He said the level has 21 cardinal app users crossed Android and iOS, with the fig of uses reaching astir 85 cardinal implicit a three-year period. On average, astir 30-35% of home aerial passengers usage Digi Yatra, portion adoption has crossed 60% astatine immoderate airports and terminals.
Data information measures see encryption of information successful transit utilizing TLS 1.3 and encryption astatine remainder utilizing AES-256. Session tokens generated during enrolment are stored locally and expire aft 90 days of inactivity.
Mr. Khadakbhavi said the semipermanent nonsubjective was to destruct the request for carrying carnal individuality documents and widen the individuality ecosystem beyond airports to hotels, cab services, and different touchpoints.
Responding to a question from the assemblage connected sanction mismatches, wherever Aadhaar permits initials portion passports and hose tickets necessitate afloat expanded names, Mr. Khadakbhavi said this was a large operational challenge.
To code this, helium said aggregate alternatives were being enabled, immoderate of which were already live. These see validation done driving licences and password-based enrolment that captures the afloat name. Support for PAN cards and different integer individuality documents, helium added, would beryllium rolled retired soon to guarantee accordant sanction validation crossed platforms.
