Today, the Centre denied a report claiming that passengers’ data from the Digi Yatra application is being used to crack down on tax evaders. ‘The recent media report regarding Digi Yatra is baseless and false,’ the Ministry of Civil Aviation shared on X. It clarified that there is no transfer of Digi Yatra passengers’ information to the Indian tax authorities.
According to NDTV the government denied the claim after a newspaper report, based on sources. They stated that the tax department was using Digi Yatra app data. They are matching it with tax returns to verify reported income. It said that the Income Tax department will begin sending notices to tax defaulters from 2025. The Ministry of Civil Aviation explained that the app uses the Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) concept. It involves storing PII and travel permissions only on the user’s device and not on a server. They stated that uninstalling the Digi Yatra app completely deletes the data.
The tweet
The Ministry of Civil Aviation hereby clarifies that the recent media report concerning Digi Yatra is based on unfounded and inaccurate claims.
There is no sharing of Digi Yatra passengers data with Indian tax authorities. The Digi Yatra app follows the Self-Sovereign Identity…
— MoCA_GoI (@MoCA_GoI) December 30, 2024
Expanding on this, the ministry added Airport systems delete passenger data as soon as the flight takes off, within 24 hours. It is also important to point out that the Digi Yatra primarily targets domestic passengers. It does not include international ones. Earlier, the Income Tax department had also rubbished the report distancing itself. Digi Yatra data said that it was not targeting evaders. Kolkata-based, Official X handle of Digiyatra tweeted thanked the income tax department for ‘replying to the false claims.’ Digi Yatra which is based on Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) enables the passenger behind the seamless end-to-end movement with minimal or no contact across various points of access at the airport.
It is seen that news articles have appeared stating that Digiyatra data will be used to crack down on tax evaders.
In this connection it is clarified that as on date there is no such move by the @IncomeTaxIndia department.@nsitharamanoffc@officeofPCM@FinMinIndia@PIB_India— Income Tax India (@IncomeTaxIndia) December 30, 2024
Thus, the system stores passenger data for Digi Yatra in encrypted form. Currently, to avail of the service, the passenger has to enrol on the Digi Yatra App through Aadhaar-based validation accompanied by self-hooping. In the next step, passengers scan the boarding pass and provide their credentials to the airport.
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