DigiLocker

In brief: DigiLocker is the government’s digital document wallet. With a customer’s consent, a business can receive issuer-provided documents from DigiLocker instead of uploaded photos.

What is DigiLocker?

DigiLocker is a government-operated digital document wallet, launched under the Digital India programme, in which Indian residents hold documents issued directly by the issuing authority — driving licences, vehicle registration certificates, PAN, education certificates, insurance policies and more. Documents issued into DigiLocker by the source authority are treated as being at par with the original physical document under the applicable Information Technology rules.

For a verifying business, DigiLocker is significant for one reason: the document arrives digitally signed by the body that issued it. There is no scan, no photograph of a card, and therefore nothing meaningful to forge.

How a DigiLocker verification flow works

• The customer is redirected to DigiLocker and authenticates to their own account.
• They are shown exactly which document the business is requesting, and consent to release it.
• The signed document or its structured data is returned to the requesting application.
• The signature is validated, confirming issuer and integrity, and the fields are read into the onboarding record.

The flow is consent-driven throughout. Nothing can be pulled without the customer completing the authorisation, which is both a privacy protection and a product constraint — it adds a step the customer must actively finish.

Why it beats document upload

Upload-based verification asks a machine to judge whether an image of a card is genuine. That is a losing position: image editing is trivial, printed replicas are cheap, and template detection degrades every time an issuing state changes its card design. Issuer-signed retrieval removes the question entirely. It also removes the OCR error rate, since the data arrives as fields rather than as pixels.

Where it fits, and what it does not cover

DigiLocker verifies documents the customer holds. It does not confirm third-party facts such as bank account ownership, current employment or a live utility connection — those come from registry lookups against the relevant authority. A typical onboarding stack therefore uses DigiLocker for identity and address documents, then adds attribute checks on top.

It is also worth designing for customers who have no DigiLocker account or cannot complete the authentication, since a mandatory DigiLocker step becomes a hard funnel block for that segment.

Using DigiLocker in a verification flow

The biggest advantage of DigiLocker is the source of the data. Documents in DigiLocker are issued by the authorities that created them, so a business that receives them through DigiLocker is not relying on an image the customer might have edited.

The consent journey

1. The customer chooses to verify with DigiLocker.
2. They are redirected to DigiLocker and sign in.
3. They see which documents are requested and approve sharing.
4. They return to your flow, and the documents or data arrive with the consent recorded.

Explain this journey in one line before the redirect, so customers are not surprised by leaving your app.

Which documents are commonly used

Aadhaar-based details, PAN, driving licence and vehicle registration are among the documents businesses most often request through DigiLocker. Request only what your process needs; asking for extra documents adds friction and data-protection obligations.

Fallbacks

Some customers do not have a DigiLocker account, or the document they need is not available in it. Offer an alternative route so DigiLocker speeds up most journeys without blocking anyone. More information is on the DigiLocker portal.

Related terms

• e-KYC (Electronic KYC)
• KYC (Know Your Customer)
• RC (Vehicle Registration Certificate)
• Address Proof Verification
• Video KYC (V-CIP)

Verify it with Veriqos Technologies

Pull issuer-signed documents with consent, and verify the attributes DigiLocker cannot answer:

• Digilocker Verification API — Verify your customers’ government documents instantly through Digilocker with Veriqos Technologies’ Digilocker Verification API — real-time verification through the customer’s Digilocker account.
• Driving Licence Verification API — Verify driving licence details instantly with Veriqos Technologies’ DL Validation API — licence status, holder details, vehicle classes, and validity dates using just the DL number and DOB.
• Bank Account Verification API — Instantly confirm the authenticity of any bank account with Veriqos Technologies’ Bank Account Verification API — account number, holder name, and status in real time.

See how these checks are applied in Fintech & Digital Lending, Insurance Providers.

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This entry explains how the check works in practice. It is general information, not legal or compliance advice — confirm current requirements against the applicable regulation.