New Delhi: After Aadhaar-based digital identification and UPI-based digital payments, the Centre is now set to embark on bringing the ‘digital address’ into India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) matrix.
At the centre of the move is recognising “address information management” as “core public infrastructure” which is currently an unregulated space in India, despite increasing digitalisation.
The aim is two-fold: One is setting up protocols to ensure citizen consent and secure address sharing across public-private sector digital entities; two is to ensure targeted, last-mile service delivery of government services to the correct address and in the quickest way possible.
Steered by the Department of Posts and closely tracked by the Prime Minister’s Office, the draft ‘digital address’ framework, complete with “addressing standards” will be put out for stakeholder discussion within a week and acquire a firm structure by year end, ET has learnt.
Already on fast track, a legislative route may also be considered by the winter session of the Parliament to enable the setting up of a digital address-DPI authority/mechanism for implementing the new address ecosystem with a regulatory oversight, it is gathered.
The ‘digital address’ move has been triggered due to multiple reasons. The foremost being every other digital entity – from e-commerce to delivery services – seeking and saving users’ “address information” and often passing it on to other interested agencies or even monetising it without the knowledge of the user, the Centre has been mulling over the need to enter the scene to ensure protocols are put in place for secure address use, only after consent is taken from the user.
A clear, citizen-first protocol is expected to be drawn up for the same, including on sharing data with government entities.
Apart from this, there are other concerns owing to the “poor address” system in India. Inconsistent or incomplete address descriptions, relying often on landmarks or in incompatible formats have been often found inadequate for digitalisation and consequent service delivery.
Recent studies before the government estimate that incorrect/incomplete address descriptions carry economic costs close to $10-14 billion which is about 0.5% of the GDP. Concerned over the issue, the Centre set up a Thematic Working Group on “addresses” in December 2023 under the National Geospatial Policy to formulate “addressing standards”.
The revamped Post Office Act of 2023 also paved the way authorising the Centre to prescribe address standards, usage of postcode and so on.
DIGIPIN IS THEY KEY
A sectoral Group of Secretaries in 2024 identified the Digital Postal Index Number (DIGIPIN) project as a key enabler to “transforming public service delivery”. While a regular postal address depends on locality, street, and house numbers, DIGIPIN is a geospatial reference using a 10-character alphanumeric code based on the exact coordinates of a location, with reference to an all-India grid. The DIGIPIN, therefore, can significantly simplify address management by providing “precise location-based identification, especially in areas with unstructured or changing addresses” especially rural regions, forests and so on.
