On October 16, 2025, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), has launched the ‘Scheme for Innovation and Technology Association with Aadhaar (SITAA)’ to foster innovation and collaboration in digital identity.
- The initiative aligns with the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat and Digital Public Infrastructure, aiming to develop secure and future-ready identity solutions.
Exam Hints:
- What? Scheme was launched to strengthen India’s digital identity
- Who? UIDAI
- Scheme: Scheme for Innovation and Technology Association with Aadhaar (SITAA)
- Alignment: Atmanirbhar Bharat and Digital Public Infrastructure
- Challenges: Face Liveness Detection, Prevention Attack Detection (PAD), Contactless Fingerprint Authentication
- MoU Entities: MeitY, MSH, UIDAI
About SITAA Scheme:
Technologies: The scheme will bring together startups, academic institutions, and industry to work with UIDAI on developing advanced, indigenous, and future-ready Identity (ID) technologies, strengthening India’s digital identity ecosystem.
Areas of Collaboration: The initiative will promote collaboration to create scalable, secure, and globally competitive solutions in digital identity.
- The key focus areas include biometrics, authentication systems, data privacy, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and secure identity applications.
Phase: SITAA will begin with a pilot phase, featuring specific challenges for startups, academic institutions, and industry partners. The applications for the first round are open until November 15, 2025.
Challenge Initiatives:
The SITAA Pilot initiative invites innovators to develop advanced solutions that strengthen the digital identity through three challenges:
Face Liveness Detection: Under this challenge, startups are invited to create Software Development Kits (SDKs) that can detect face-liveness using passive and active methods.
- The challenge aims to stop spoofing attempts such as photos, videos, masks, or deepfakes, ensuring smooth and secure user experiences.
Prevention Attack Detection (PAD): As part of the PAD challenge, the Academic and research institutions are encouraged to develop AI/ Machine Language (ML)-based systems that can detect fake or manipulated faces, including print, replay, morphs, deepfakes, etc.
- The solutions must be accurate, privacy-safe, and scalable, helping Aadhaar’s face-based authentication security.
Contactless Fingerprint Authentication: Innovators can develop SDKs for fingerprint capture via smartphone cameras, ensuring high-quality images, spoof detection, and UIDAI compliance.
- Deliverables include a demo mobile application for enrollment/authentication and a Quality Control (QC) test tool to benchmark contactless captures against certified devices.
MoU signed:
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Startups Hub (MSH), National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the UIDAI as strategic partners to advance the objectives of SITAA scheme.
- Under the MoU, MSH will provide technical mentoring, incubation, and accelerator support to startups and innovators. NASSCOM will offer industry connections, global outreach, and entrepreneurial support.
About Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI):
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) – Bhuvnesh Kumar
Headquarters – New Delhi, Delhi
Established – 2009
