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Good practice Imported

UDID — India's National Digital Identity Card for Persons with Disabilities

India · New Delhi · See the India profile · See the New Delhi profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 24% 92/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

India's Unique Disability ID (UDID) replaces fragmented paper certificates with one national digital card spanning 21 disability categories, linked to e-KYC and DigiLocker. Mandatory since 2021, it has issued 13M+ cards, though gaps remain near the disability threshold.

13.3 million
UDID cards issued nationwide (as of 2026)
47 %
UDID certificate used for travel concessions (2019-2022 cohort, Nagpur)
30 %
UDID certificate used for job reservations (2019-2022 cohort, Nagpur)
23 %
UDID certificate used for education benefits (2019-2022 cohort, Nagpur)

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
Period
2016–present
Keywords
government, digital identity, disability services, social protection

Context

Launched in 2016-17 by India's Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016, UDID (Swavlamban Card) creates a single national digital identity and smartcard for persons with disabilities across 21 recognised categories, replacing fragmented state-by-state paper certificates. Use of the platform became mandatory for all states and union territories in June 2021.

Results

As of 2026, over 13.3 million UDID cards have been issued nationwide. A peer-reviewed study of 600 visually disabled patients certified via UDID at a tertiary eye hospital in Nagpur (2019-2022) found the certificate mainly used for travel concessions (47%), job reservations (30%) and education benefits (23%).

Conclusions

The Nagpur study also flagged that patients with disability below the 40% statutory threshold, such as some one-eyed patients, are excluded from benefits despite genuine impairment — an equity gap regulators have yet to close.

Implementation
Indicative cost
High (€500k–€5M) — Nationwide digital identity infrastructure spanning 28 states and 8 union territories, with e-KYC/DigiLocker integration and a medical-certification network, implies substantial national ICT investment, though no specific budget figure was found.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Operating continuously since 2016-17 and mandatory nationwide since 2021 — a decade-long, ongoing national programme.
Staffing & skills
Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment

Conditions for success

  • nationwide medical-board certification network
  • e-KYC and DigiLocker integration
  • mandatory nationwide adoption enforced from June 2021

Common failure modes

  • patients below the 40% statutory disability threshold are excluded from benefits despite genuine impairment

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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