Why India Needs Digital Identity Management Solutions

Identity is the most fundamental concept in human existence. Our physical identity is defined by our past experiences, ingrained ideas, learned behaviours, and a collection of cultural, familial, national, team, gender, and other identities. 

The growth of the internet in multiple realms has made it necessary to maintain the original identity in the digital world since it plays a major role in shaping the identity. 

Digital Identity

A person’s digital identity can be defined as a collection of digital data that confirms their identity and allows them to perform various tasks in the digital world. Digital identity verification is rapidly expanding as a result of digital transformation initiatives, and it is expected to grow further as a result of the pandemic. 

Identity verification is the most important aspect of using the digital world’s services, and it can be accomplished through a variety of methods, one of which is eKYC or digital KYC, which is regarded as one of the most trustworthy methods of identity verification.

Growth Of The Digital Identification Process

The introduction of new eKYC solutions that use developing technology, biometric information, distributed ledgers, and artificial intelligence to establish a verified digital identity has resulted in a new shift in identity verification practices. 

The number of eKYC transactions in India has increased significantly, rising from 1,249.23 Cr in July to  1,272.68 Cr at the end of August. By incorporating video-based KYC to verify individuals’ details, the digital realm has included a more advanced identity verification.

The New KYC Method

Video KYC has emerged as one of the most secure methods of confirming information, particularly for financial institutions.  

Video KYC stands out from other KYC verification protocols due to the incorporation of video-enabled features, audio-visual interactions, facial matching capabilities, and the general use of AI technology to optimise and accelerate the KYC verification process.

Geotagging is used in video KYC to pinpoint the customer’s location during KYC verification, and facial matching is used as a vital identifying technique. It is dependent on technology to extract information from photographs of officially valid documents (OVDs) and then validate that information instantly. This serves as a key foundational element of video KYC and enables speedier verification with fewer mistakes.

Safeguarding Digital Identity

As the Internet has evolved and personal usage has increased, corporations are now handling millions of people’s sensitive information online. To provide and restrict access to such sensitive information while protecting and promoting individual privacy, the best efficiency must be used.  

To help businesses and governments, new players have emerged in the market to provide digital identity management systems that facilitate identity management while maintaining complete control over data privacy. 

In addition to protecting software and data access, identity management systems protect against unauthorised access to an organisation’s physical resources, such as servers, networks, and storage units, which could lead to a ransomware attack. 

With the emergence of digital solution providers, businesses can now maintain an increasing number of identities in the digital era. These identities can be partners, clients, or employees, and each has specific access requirements that must be met throughout their relationship with the company. They help with automatic synchronisation and reconciliation, social registration, profile and privacy management, employee identity generation, and role-based provisioning and de-provisioning.

Conclusion

As technology advances and internet and mobile usage increases, digital identities are becoming more practical and widespread on a global scale.  Consumers can use digital IDs to complete identification services remotely or more conveniently on digital devices such as mobile phones. 

Digital identities streamline and automate operations, making them more efficient and seamless. The providers of digital management solutions aid in the detection of fraud and the possibility of cybercrime within the data system. They help in the acceleration of the risk-based document verification process, allowing organisations to verify documents and check for duplicate IDs. 

The landscape for digital solution providers in India has also grown significantly in recent years, with investments in the Indian SaaS ecosystem increasing by 170% in 2021 to reach $ 4.5 Bn. The country’s growing digital sphere presents an opportunity for digital solution providers to create smart algorithms to enable a more robust and efficient method of verifying digital identity.