New Delhi:

The Centre today refuted a report that said passengers’ data from the Digi Yatra application was being used to crack down on tax evaders. “The recent media report concerning Digi Yatra is based on unfounded and inaccurate claims,” the Ministry of Civil Aviation posted on X.

“There is no sharing of Digi Yatra passengers’ data with Indian tax authorities,” it added.

The government’s denial comes after a newspaper report, citing sources, claimed the tax department had access to the Digi Yatra app data which was being reconciled with tax filings to check for discrepancies in the declared income. It added the Income Tax department would start issuing notices to tax evaders in 2025.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation informed that the app “follows the Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) model, where Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and travel credentials are stored exclusively on the user’s device, not on any central repository”.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation hereby clarifies that the recent media report concerning Digi Yatra is based on unfounded and inaccurate claims.

There is no sharing of Digi Yatra passengers data with Indian tax authorities. The Digi Yatra app follows the Self-Sovereign Identity…

— MoCA_GoI (@MoCA_GoI) December 30, 2024

“If a user uninstalls the Digi Yatra app, the data is deleted entirely,” it added.

Further clarifying, the ministry said, “Airport systems automatically purge passenger data within 24 hours of the flight’s departure. It is also important to note that Digi Yatra is designed solely for domestic passengers and does not apply to international travellers.”

Earlier, the Income Tax department also denied the report, saying it was not looking at Digi Yatra data to go after evaders.

It is seen that news articles have appeared stating that Digiyatra data will be used to crack down on tax evaders.
In this connection it is clarified that as on date there is no such move by the @IncomeTaxIndia department.@nsitharamanoffc@officeofPCM@FinMinIndia@PIB_India

— Income Tax India (@IncomeTaxIndia) December 30, 2024

The official X handle of Digi Yatra thanked the Income Tax department for “addressing the false claims”.

Digi Yatra, based on Facial Recognition Technology (FRT), provides for contactless, seamless movement of passengers at various checkpoints at airports.

The data shared by a passenger for Digi Yatra is stored in an encrypted format. To avail the service, passengers need to register their details on the Digi Yatra app using Aadhaar-based validation and a self-image capture. In the next step, the boarding pass has to be scanned and the credentials are shared with the airport.

New Delhi:

Digi Yatra does not store the personally identifiable information of passengers and the personal data of the Indian users are safe and secure, the Digi Yatra Foundation said on Friday amid persisting concerns over the privacy of user data.

“Digi Yatra technology infrastructure is being scaled up with an intention to expand coverage from 15 airports to 28 airports by the end of April 2024,” the foundation said in a detailed statement.

Based on Facial Recognition Technology (FRT), Digi Yatra provides for contactless, seamless movement of passengers at various checkpoints at airports.

We value your feedback and we are pleased to announce that Digi Yatra is expanding to 28 airports across India!

Experience smoother travel as we enhance our infrastructure to make your journey a memorable one.

Here’s all you need to know about your data privacy and security… pic.twitter.com/9tagakvhm4

— Digi Yatra Official (@DigiYatraOffice) April 19, 2024

Emphasising that Digi Yatra is built on the concept of Self Sovereign Identity, the foundation said the Digi Yatra Central Ecosystem (DYCE) never stores any of the ID credentials data, which has Personally Identifiable Information (PIl) anywhere in any central repository.

“The Digi Yatra blockchain only has Hash/Key values to check the Integrity of the data,” the foundation, which is the nodal agency for the app, said.

Earlier this week, there were reports raising concerns about the privacy of data shared with Digi Yatra in connection with a former vendor Dataevolve, which has come under investigation.

The foundation’s CEO Suresh Khadakbhavi said Dataevolve has been completely removed from the Digi Yatra ecosystem.

While noting that the personal data of 3.3 million Indian users and the Digi Yatra app are absolutely safe, the statement said the foundation or any service provider cannot access user data since all the PIl is only stored on the user’s mobile device in the Digi Yatra app, accessible only to the user.

The old data would remain on the user’s mobile device, and once the app is uninstalled or deleted, the credentials data and the travel history also get deleted by default, it added.

Explaining the process, the foundation said that when the user shares the ID credentials and the boarding pass to the origin airport (verifier) and travels through the airport, the data received by the airport is purged/ deleted from airport systems within 24 hours of flight departure.

Digi Yatra has the mandatory CERT-In audit certificate, which is required for the DYCE backbone, mobile apps, and airport verifiers as per the civil aviation ministry policies.

According to the foundation, the latest audit was conducted in January, which clearly reconfirmed that Digi Yatra does not store PIl. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)