New Delhi: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has launched the Scheme for Innovation and Technology Association with Aadhaar (SITAA) to drive innovation, indigenization, and co-development of advanced technologies in India’s digital identity ecosystem.
The SITAA initiative aims to bring together startups, academia, and industry to collaborate with UIDAI in developing secure, scalable, and future-ready identity solutions.
SITAA: Advancing Aadhaar Security and Innovation
Through SITAA, UIDAI seeks to promote next-generation solutions in biometrics, authentication frameworks, artificial intelligence, and data privacy to enhance the country’s digital identity infrastructure.
The program focuses on enabling the ecosystem to design and deploy technologies that are globally benchmarked, privacy-compliant, and inclusive across diverse demographics, devices, and environments.
Also Read: Protean eGov Technologies Secures INR 1370 Cr UIDAI Contract for Aadhaar Services Expansion
The SITAA initiative aligns with national priorities such as Digital Public Infrastructure and Atmanirbhar Bharat, fostering a self-reliant and innovation-driven identity technology landscape.
Strategic Partnerships with MeitY Startup Hub and NASSCOM
To further SITAA’s objectives, UIDAI has signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with MeitY Startup Hub (MSH) and NASSCOM as strategic partners.
MSH will provide technical mentorship, incubation, and accelerator support to startups, while NASSCOM will extend industry linkages, entrepreneurial assistance, and global market outreach.
Apply Here: https://msh.meity.gov.in/challenges/home/5f56490b947e-4893-b9da-fe11f15251ec
SITAA Pilot Challenges Open for Applications
The SITAA program will commence with a pilot phase comprising key challenges aimed at startups, research institutions, and technology partners. Applications for these challenges are open until November 15, 2025.
- Face Liveness Detection
This challenge invites startups to create Software Development Kits (SDKs) for face-liveness detection using both passive and active methods.
The goal is to prevent spoofing attempts—such as photos, videos, masks, morphs, and deepfakes – while ensuring accuracy across demographics and devices. Solutions must be suitable for both edge and server deployments and support seamless user experiences.
- Presentation Attack Detection
This challenge seeks proposals from academic and research institutions to develop advanced Presentation Attack Detection (PAD) technologies for Aadhaar’s face-based authentication.
The focus is on AI/ML-driven techniques capable of detecting various attacks including replay, mask, print, and adversarial manipulations. Selected participants will contribute to national-level biometric research and ensure Aadhaar Act compliance.
- Contactless Fingerprint Authentication
Startups are invited to propose SDKs for Contactless Fingerprint Authentication using smartphone cameras or low-cost imaging devices.
Solutions should enable real-time image capture, quality checks, spoof detection, and generation of AFIS-compliant templates. Deliverables include a demo mobile application and a test tool for benchmarking performance.
Also Read: UIDAI Sets New Record: 221 Crore Aadhaar Authentication Transactions in a Single Month
SITAA: Empowering India’s Digital Identity Future
By launching SITAA, UIDAI is empowering India’s innovation ecosystem to design next-generation identity technologies that enhance the security, reliability, and inclusivity of Aadhaar.
The program invites eligible innovators to contribute to building a resilient, future-ready, and self-reliant digital identity infrastructure.
