New Delhi (Rajeev Sharma): In a significant stride toward establishing a comprehensive digital identity ecosystem, the Government of India has unveiled a substantial enhancement to its flagship DigiLocker platform, effectively transforming it into a unified digital ID wallet for all citizens.
This strategic move seeks to integrate all pivotal identification documents, including Aadhaar, PAN, driving license, voter ID, ration card, and health ID, into a single secure digital space. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has confirmed that DigiLocker will soon incorporate AI-driven eKYC (electronic Know Your Customer) and global credential verification capabilities. This upgrade will empower citizens to digitally verify their identities both domestically and internationally, thereby ensuring heightened transparency, speed, and security in accessing government and private services.
During a national conference titled ‘DigiLocker Enabling Paperless Access for All,’ MeitY officials underscored that DigiLocker has evolved from a simple document storage platform to a ‘trust layer’ connecting citizens, ministries, and institutions. MeitY Secretary S. Krishnan emphasized that the platform now serves as a secure and interoperable foundation for India’s digital governance framework. Currently, DigiLocker hosts over 6 billion verified digital documents and serves nearly 200 million registered users. Several Indian states, including Assam, Kerala, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh, have been recognized as ‘DigiLocker Accelerators’ for successfully integrating the service into public delivery systems.
The upgrade follows initiatives like Karnataka’s ‘Nanna Guruthu (My Identity)’ project, which leverages DigiLocker to store 13 essential identity documents for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe beneficiaries. Officials stated that the enhanced DigiLocker will soon enable AI-driven identity verification, expedite access to official records, and facilitate cross border authentication, marking a pivotal milestone in India’s Digital India vision of paperless, presence-less, and cashless governance. With these advancements, DigiLocker is poised to become India’s most trusted digital identity platform, providing every citizen with a secure and comprehensive digital vault for their most critical documents.
