The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has launched a new innovation initiative – the Scheme for Innovation and Technology Association with Aadhaar (SITAA) – to strengthen India’s digital identity ecosystem and combat emerging security threats such as deepfakes, spoofing, and presentation attacks. Applications for the program are open until November 15.
SITAA aims to bring together startups, academic institutions, and industry players to co-develop secure, scalable, and globally benchmarked solutions that enhance Aadhaar authentication. The program will particularly focus on advanced biometric technologies, authentication frameworks, artificial intelligence, and data privacy.
To give the initiative a collaborative push, MeitY Startup Hub (MSH) and NASSCOM have signed MoUs with UIDAI as strategic partners. MSH will offer technical mentoring, incubation, and accelerator support, while NASSCOM will provide industry linkages and global outreach.
“The SITAA program is a significant step towards strengthening India’s digital public infrastructure and ensuring a secure and inclusive identity ecosystem,” UIDAI officials said. “It supports the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat by encouraging indigenous innovation.”
Three Key Innovation Challenges
The SITAA pilot phase will roll out three targeted challenges designed to address critical areas of Aadhaar authentication security:
1. Face Liveness Detection: Startups are invited to develop software development kits (SDKs) for passive and active face liveness detection. Solutions must prevent spoofing through photos, videos, masks, morphs, deepfakes, and adversarial inputs, while ensuring seamless authentication across demographics, devices, and environments.
2. Presentation Attack Detection (PAD): Academic and research institutions can submit proposals for advanced PAD solutions that leverage AI/ML to detect a wide range of attacks, including print, replay, masks, morphs, and deepfakes. Solutions must be privacy-compliant, scalable, and capable of real-time or near-real-time detection.
3. Contactless Fingerprint Authentication: This challenge focuses on developing SDKs for fingerprint authentication using standard smartphone cameras or low-cost imaging devices. The solutions must ensure high-quality image capture, spoof detection, and compatibility with Aadhaar’s authentication ecosystem.
Strengthening National Digital Identity
SITAA is envisioned as a catalyst for cutting-edge innovation in India’s identity tech space. By creating a platform for collaboration between the government, startups, and academia, UIDAI aims to build a future-ready authentication framework that can withstand evolving security challenges.
The program also aligns with national goals of building secure and trusted digital public infrastructure, reducing dependency on foreign technologies, and enhancing citizen trust in Aadhaar-enabled services.
Startups, researchers, and industry partners can find detailed challenge guidelines and submit applications through the MSH portal.