Ask any frequent flyer in India which innovation has made their lives easier in recent times, and a majority is likely to mention Digi Yatra. For travellers on domestic flights, this service based on facial recognition eliminates the need to carry a copy of the boarding pass and show their ID at the airport. The organisation behind this service is Digi Yatra Foundation, helmed by CEO Suresh Khadakbhavi. An electronics & communication engineer by training who had a 15-year-plus stint with Bangalore International Airport Ltd, the 55-year-old says the service is still in the process of scaling up. In an interview with Business Today’s Tech Editor Aayush Ailawadi, Khadakbhavi talks about the technology, privacy, the foundation’s structure, and the way ahead. Edited excerpts:
A: Let me walk you through how we approached things when we were in the conceptual stages. We were thinking about the ideal passenger experience. We chose a scenario with a lady travelling with two young children. Kids can be unruly and imagine going through a manual process. This lady would have a trolley with bags; she may even be overwhelmed. On top of that, she has three travel documents and three ID cards to manage while walking and showing them all to get validated manually. Then she has to go through the process with her unruly kids. So, we designed the process around this persona.
In Digi Yatra, this lady can sit comfortably on the couch [at home], watching TV, and upload her ID card and that of her children’s (there’s a guardianship programme with rules) and finally share their boarding passes. Then, when she reaches the airport, she doesn’t have to show a single document. All she has to do is manage the kids and get them to go first, then she goes through. It’s a seamless process.
“What we’re trying to do is build a much more privacy-preserving ecosystem where data sharing is controlled by the passengers themselves”
Now, to answer your question about the technology itself. When you consider how identity is validated across India, think about hotels. When you say you have a reservation, they ask for your name and find your booking. Then, they ask for your ID card, which they photocopy. This is all unencrypted data being shared with someone. What we’re trying to do is build a much more privacy-preserving ecosystem where data sharing is controlled by the passengers themselves. When they share their identity and travel credentials, it’s shared on a secure channel directly with the airport. They share it before they travel, so when they arrive at the airport, their status is “ready to fly,” meaning they don’t need to interact with anyone. Imagine you’re conducting important meetings and flying. You don’t want any issues at the airport or arguments with someone who might be picky about your boarding pass name match. You want to walk through seamlessly, which is what we’re enabling in Digi Yatra.
Let’s get to the technology itself. We’ve leveraged cutting-edge sovereign identity technology. It uses verifiable credentials. Basically, we create verifiable credentials, and your phone has a [digital] wallet that stores the credential. When you upload a boarding pass, this is what happens: there’s a check to see if the name on the boarding pass matches the name on the identity credential. If there’s a match, then the identity credential and boarding pass are sent to the airport.
A: Enrolling requires your mobile number and OTP for verification. Then, facial data is retrieved from a trusted source like Aadhaar number, including your name and a digital image. This data is sent to our biometric matching algorithm, which performs a one-to-one match. We look at the date of birth, Aadhaar number, face, name and gender. Once matched, your selfie is stored in your identity credential [in your phone’s digital wallet] and your Aadhaar card image is discarded.
A: No, it won’t be stored on anyone’s server or repository. That’s how self-sovereign identity works—there’s no personally identifiable information on the distributed ledger. What we do is create a signature. When we create the credential, a data string is generated, and a hash value is created. We add that signature, and then the data is stored on your phone, in your wallet. When you travel, you upload your boarding pass, and the name match happens. The two data points—your identity credential and boarding pass—are sent to the airport. This is similar to the current process, where you scan your boarding card, which is manually verified with the airline’s departure control system... [but] we allow you to share this data in advance. The only additional data we collect is your face, which is stored in the credential and sent to the airport’s back-end system.
“A tightly knit process needs to be established [to use Digi Yatra on international flights]… other countries are willing to partner with us on pilot programmes”
A: We rapidly scaled up users from single digits to millions in a year. To handle this growth, we needed a more scaleable and modular app. There were several things that we couldn’t do earlier. For example, if we have to change a feature in the app, we don’t have to push another full update on the app. We can just change the feature itself or we can turn it on or off. All those things were not possible in the first app. I do agree that the transition was perhaps not the smoothest. But we did have our own learning lessons. The old app now gives a prompt to move to the new app.
A: The AAI has a 26% stake in the Digi Yatra Foundation, while the remaining 74% is shared by the five public-private-partnership airports. There’s a separate governance structure with representation from the Ministry of Civil Aviation to ensure adherence to regulations.
A: We’ve created a self-sovereign identity ecosystem, which means you, the passenger, control your data. The Digi Yatra Foundation itself doesn’t store any passenger data. Imagine upgrading your phone. You wouldn’t expect your new phone to automatically have all your Digi Yatra credentials installed, because that data isn’t stored centrally. We made a conscious decision not to store personally identifiable information and risk data breaches. That’s why we chose the concept of self-sovereign identity.
A: That’s a good point. Currently, we are operational at 14 airports, and we’re adding another 14 in the next month or so. So, you can expect to see this at a total of 28 airports in the next couple of months. This will cover almost 90% of India’s flying population in terms of addressable volume.
Now, regarding your question about international processes, I was recently at a major annual passenger terminal conference in Frankfurt, where I spoke about Digi Yatra’s progress. There were other like-minded people working on similar digital identity concepts in travel. The whole theme was around digital identity in travel.
“Basically, we create verifiable credentials, and your phone has a [digital] wallet that stores the credentials”
Interestingly, the European Union has already built a framework for digital identity and is now offering a toolkit for people to start testing and rolling out similar solutions. There are many pilot trials happening around the world. Obviously, I would like to see this working for international travel as well.
We’re in talks with the Ministry of External Affairs, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Bureau of Immigration. A tightly knit process needs to be established for this. However, other countries are also willing to partner with us on pilot programmes. This would allow someone flying a specific route to have a seamless process at the Delhi airport and then have their credentials already shared with the Frankfurt airport, eliminating immigration queues.
A: Absolutely. As we scale up, we want to have a best-in-class solution provider on board to take us forward in this journey.