The Unique Identification Authority of India has launched a new innovation initiative called the Scheme for Innovation and Technology Association (SITAA) with Aadhaar to strengthen India’s digital identity ecosystem and address emerging security challenges such as deepfakes, spoofing, and presentation attacks. Applications for the program will remain open until November 15.

The initiative aims to bring together startups, academic institutions, and industry players to jointly create secure, scalable, and globally benchmarked solutions that enhance Aadhaar authentication. It will primarily focus on advanced biometric technologies, authentication frameworks, artificial intelligence, and data privacy.

To promote collaboration, the MeitY Startup Hub and NASSCOM have signed agreements with UIDAI as strategic partners. The MeitY Startup Hub will offer technical mentoring, incubation, and accelerator support, while NASSCOM will help with 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.”

The pilot phase of SITAA will launch three focused challenges that aim to strengthen critical areas of Aadhaar authentication security.

Face Liveness Detection: Startups are invited to develop software development kits for passive and active face liveness detection. The solutions must prevent spoofing through photos, videos, masks, morphs, deepfakes, and adversarial inputs while ensuring smooth authentication across devices, demographics, and environments.

Presentation Attack Detection: Academic and research institutions can submit proposals for advanced solutions that use artificial intelligence and machine learning to detect various types of attacks, including print, replay, masks, morphs, and deepfakes. The solutions must comply with privacy standards, be scalable, and capable of operating in real time or near real time.

Contactless Fingerprint Authentication: This challenge focuses on developing software development kits for fingerprint authentication using regular smartphone cameras or affordable imaging devices. The solutions must ensure high-quality image capture, spoof detection, and compatibility with Aadhaar’s authentication system.

SITAA has been envisioned as a platform to drive innovation in India’s identity technology sector. By building cooperation between the government, startups, and academia, UIDAI aims to create a future-ready authentication framework capable of handling evolving security threats.

The initiative also supports India’s broader goal of establishing a secure and trusted digital public infrastructure, reducing dependence on foreign technologies, and enhancing public confidence in Aadhaar-enabled services.

Startups, researchers, and industry partners can view detailed challenge guidelines and submit their applications through the MeitY Startup Hub portal.