Government Refutes Claims Of Using DigiYatra Data To Track Tax Evaders

The Income Tax Department and a top DigiYatra official denied on Monday news reports of the platform's data being used to crack down on tax evaders.

DigiYatra is a contactless travel initiative that uses facial recognition to identify passengers at airports to reduce wait times, speed up processing, and make the process simpler.

"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," the department said in a post on X.

Digi Yatra Chief Executive Officer Suresh Khadakabhavi said facial authentication was decentralised under the platform. "Privacy remains non-negotiable," he said, in response to a story by the New Indian Express.

"It is crucial to clarify that Digi Yatra operates without storing any Personally Identifiable Information (PII) in any central repository. This ensures there is no database to breach, share, lose, or leak, safeguarding user privacy," he said in post on LinkedIn.

Khadakabhavi said DigiYatra was only available for domestic air travel, and scrutiny and corelation of records was not feasible.

"In 2024, Digi Yatra crossed 9 million active users, with a daily average of 30,000 app downloads and over 42 million seamless passenger journeys facilitated. This demonstrates the growing trust in Digi Yatra’s cutting-edge technology," he said.

The government has previously clarified that the consent of passengers is a prerequisite for taking facial biometric for DigiYatra.

Digi Yatra was launched by the Digi Yatra Foundation in 2022 It is a private not-for-profit company owned by the Airports Authority of India (26%) and five other private airports — Hyderabad, Cochin, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi — all having a 14.8% stake each.