India's MeitY to Expand DigiLocker to Private Sectors

India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) intends to expand the reach of its DigiLocker digital document service into private sectors such as finance, education, and healthcare. The ministry, through its National e-Governance Division (NeGD), is seeking partners to grow the user base and identify new use cases for the platform.

NeGD has issued a Request for Empanelment (RFE) inviting feedback from industry and the public on the proposed expansion. Selected entities will be responsible for bringing citizens' government-issued documents onto the DigiLocker platform and managing the technical integration. Potential use cases in the financial sector include customer KYC and onboarding for lending and insurance, as well as income and address verification for underwriting.

In education, DigiLocker could streamline admission and scholarship processes and verify academic credentials. The health sector might use it for insurance claims processing, patient registration, and verification of practitioner credentials. These use cases are indicative, and agencies may propose others based on existing DigiLocker documents.

Empanelled agencies will be obligated to comply with the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023, and cannot retain or use document content for secondary purposes. They must maintain auditable logs, adhere to data localization mandates within India, and ensure no vendor lock-in is created. All required responses to the RFE are due by October 10, 2026.