Digi Yatra: Facial Recognition For Entry To Indian Airports To Begin At Three Airports Today

New Delhi: India is set to launch a mechanism called Digi Yatra For a seamless and hassle-free air travel experience beginning today (Dec 1). Digi Yatra is conceived to achieve contactless and seamless processing of passengers at airports based on Facial Recognition Technology (FRT).

The project basically envisages that travellers may pass through various checkpoints at the airports through paperless and contactless processing using facial features to establish their identity which could be linked to the boarding pass. In the first phase, it will be launched at seven airports and for domestic flight passengers only, news agency ANI reported.

It will be initially launched at three airports – Delhi, Bengaluru, and Varanasi today, followed by four airports – Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune, and Vijayawada by March 2023. Subsequently, the technology would be implemented across the country.

To use this facility, a one-time registration on the Digi Yatra app is required using Aadhaar-based validation and a self-image capture. There is no central storage of Personally Identifiable Information (PII). The passenger’s ID and travel credentials are stored in a secure wallet on the passenger’s smartphone itself, the report added.