Bye-bye physical documents, welcome storage apps

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Is there anyone who hasn’t rushed to a neighbourhood reprographic store to photocopy a sheaf of documents whenever anyone had to apply for a loan, government job or welfare project, passport or seat in an institution for higher education? Worse, often getting the photocopy does not signal the end of the ordeal. One had to get the documents attested by persons in positions of authority such as bureaucrats, officers in charge of police stations, post offices, headmasters of schools etc. However, the days of running to the local photocopier and securing attestation seem to be numbered as government apps such as the Digilocker has provided a virtual safe deposit vault the services of which are only a few clicks away for any individual with an internet service.

But DigiLocker is just one a few such facilities. UMANG, DigiYatra, Ayushman Bharat Account are services that are extremely useful for storing utility documents and information for any individual, Business Standard says in a report.

Virtual locker DigiLocker – a digital locker for safekeeping as the name suggests – was inaugurated in 2015 but is becoming popular now. It is a virtual storage where almost every document of an individual – KYC documents, financial documents like bank and loan-related ones, employment-related documents such as provident fund documents – can be stored.

Whenever one goes for any transaction or dealings such as applying for a loan or a government job or passport or visa, these documents can be sourced by the authorities directly from the virtual locker without the applicant carrying them physically.

Perhaps the most important benefit accrues to the authorities who can access original documents from cyberspace without worrying about their authenticity. This is possible since DigiLocker is connected to different government departments.

“The issuing bodies upload the documents to the DigiLocker. In accordance with the provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000, these electronic records are legally valid and have to be treated on a par with the original documents,” senior vice-president Kiya.ai Manoj Chopra told Business Standard. Kiya.ai is a digital solutions provider which is serving governments and financial institutions globally.

“It provides individuals with a secure digital space to store and access essential documents such as identity proofs, educational certificates and government-issued documents,” said Adhil Shetty, CEO, BankBazaar. UMANG is another useful tool for any citizen. It provides access to a range of government services such as filing income tax returns, provident fund data pertaining to an individual, LPG cylinder booking, Aadhaar card-related data and the like.

Seamless integration DigiLocker is seamlessly integrated with this service. UMANG also provides a gateway to paying utility bills, passport services, results of major school board exams. The government has plans to integrate all its new services with this app. The Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) is a unique health app that consolidates all the health records of an individual at one place. “This app enables easy access and viewing of all your health-related information. It can prove beneficial in a health emergency. However, you should be comfortable storing your health data online,” remarked M Barve, founder, MB Wealth Financial Services.

If and when treating doctors, or hospital authorities or laboratories ask for such health records from a patient, he/she can permit them to access the digital store to refer to those. Another domain that has come under the convenience of a digital initiative by the government is storing data to facilitate paperless travel, especially through airports. The service envisages storage of all data in such a way that a passenger can just share his/her DigiYatra id while purchasing the ticket. The airline, in turn, will issue the identity of the passenger to the airport enabling the passenger to move smoothly through the security checks and boarding gate using facial recognition system technology. It will link the passenger’s identity to his/her boarding pass.

Account aggregators are another class of services that that is offered by a type of RBI-regulated body that allows an individual to securely (and obviously digitally) to access and share information from one financial institution where he/she has an account with another (regulated institution). Both institutions have to be partners in the AA network.

“Earlier, to apply for a loan, you had to furnish documents like banks statements and salary slips. But in the AA network, the user gives consent through her AA app for sharing data from various financial institutions with other financial institutions,” said B G Mahesh, co-founder and CEO, Sahamati, an AA industry partner. However, there is one infrastructural drawback. Since DigiLocker is storage in cyberspace, it requires internet access, and in areas where connectivity is poor, accessing the service where connectivity is not sound might be troublesome. Another advice experts give it to download apps from official app stores only and carefully read privacy policy to realise how the data you store will be shared.