Google rolls out Digilocker in Files app to access official documents

NEW DELHI: Google on Monday announced that it will integrate "DigiLocker", a government-issued document storage service, into the Files app on Android so users can access government-verified documents from the app in India.

At the annual Google for India event, Google announced its partnership with the National eGovernance Division (NeGD), established by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), to roll out the DigiLocker integration within the Files app.

DigiLocker is a key initiative under Digital India, which offers a secure cloud-based platform for the storage, sharing and verification of documents and certificates.

"We expect that DigiLocker's integration and partnership on Android will drive smoother and ubiquitous access to digitised documents in a safe and secure manner for all our users," Abhishek Singh, President and CEO, NeGD and MyGov, MD and CEO, Digital India Corporation, said in a statement.

The documents saved in Google Files will be stored in an isolated environment on the device and will be accessible only through a unique lock screen authentication.

"As the number of digital users and businesses grow in India, so do the attack surfaces. Analysing and improving cybersecurity across surfaces is no longer a human-scale problem, it needs to be supplemented with sophisticated technology. AI can help respond to these unprecedented challenges efficiently, effectively, and at scale," Royal Hansen, Vice President, Privacy, Safety, and Security at Google, said in a statement.

The tech giant said that the functionality is built on a solid foundation of privacy and security.

DigiLocker currently has more than five crore downloads on Play Store. It uses APIs to retrieve, digitise and store documents issued by the government.