Digi Yatra Could Soon Include Hotels, Rail Travel, & Public Areas, Says CEO

EE News Desk Jun 19, 2024

Digi Yatra was envisaged for all the touchpoints, such as airport entry gates, check-in, baggage drop and boarding gates

Digi Yatra, the facial-recognition technology-based check-in service used at airports, might soon be implemented at hotels and public places such as historical monuments, Suresh Khadakbhavi, CEO, Digi Yatra Foundation mentioned, as per a media report. He said that a prototype for this application has been developed, and discussions are ongoing with various government agencies, including the Ministry of Tourism.

“The vision is to create a travel stack for seamless movement across India,” Khadakbhavi said while talking about the future use-cases of Digi Yatra.

Stating citing the example of the Taj Mahal, he outlined, “This would enhance the travel experience for a tourist who has to produce a passport for check-in at a hotel and at police stations for verification.” Digi Yatra could also be extended to rail travel, with initial discussions already held with the Ministry of Railways. Nationals from certain countries, such as Pakistan, are required to report their arrival and intended departure at each place of stay within 24 hours at the nearest police station. Additionally, tourists from other countries holding visas for more than 180 days must register at the Foreign Regional Registration Office (FRRO).

Khadakbhavi explained that using Digi Yatra at hotels and public places would help prevent data leaks, as people often share identity documents in unencrypted forms, like photocopies and screenshots. In contrast, the Digi Yatra ID doesn’t contain any personally identifiable information. The Digi Yatra Central Ecosystem only stores a hash value or numerical identifier of the file content, ensuring that none of the four data items provided during registration on the app (name, Aadhaar, face scan, and passport number) can be leaked.

The Digi Yatra initiative facilitates the digital processing of air travellers by using their biometrics, such as facial scans, instead of boarding passes, enabling paperless movement through various airport checkpoints. Launched at airports in December 2022, Digi Yatra currently operates at 14 airports, with plans to expand to 15 more by the end of 2024.

When the policy document was introduced in 2017, the primary aim of Digi Yatra was to improve passenger throughput at airports, enhancing infrastructure to handle increasing passenger volumes through more efficient operations, in addition to the physical expansion of airports. However, the proposed application of Digi Yatra for hotels and other public places suggests its potential to extend beyond air travel.

The Digi Yatra Foundation, a not-for-profit private company, is a consortium of five private airports holding a combined 74 per cent share and the Airports Authority of India holding the remaining 26 per cent. The consortium also funds the Foundation.

At airports, Digi Yatra e-gates have primarily been deployed at entry gates outside the terminals and security screening queues inside the passenger terminal buildings. Now, they are increasingly being installed at additional touchpoints such as boarding gates and baggage drop areas. “Digi Yatra was envisaged for all the touchpoints, such as airport entry gates, check-in, baggage drop and boarding gates. But airports rolled them out for airport entry gates and security checkpoints, and some have started to also implement it at baggage drop,” Khadakbhavi highlighted, underlining that this would eliminate the need for passengers to produce boarding passes at various checkpoints.

Regarding privacy concerns outlined in its policy document, such as third-party vendor data access and exceptions to the mandatory data purge within 24 hours, the CEO stated that a revised policy document will soon be released. This update aims to clarify the language and address concerns over potential misuse.

Addressing concerns about the lack of user consent at airports where enrolments are conducted on the day of travel, Khadakbhavi attributed the issue to ‘overenthusiasm’ among private airport staff. He mentioned that they are in discussions with airports to ensure that their staff is adequately sensitised.