Govt close to picking private AI integrator for DigiLocker

India’s digital public infrastructure and venture-backed startup ecosystems saw significant strategic shifts as the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) advanced plans to empanel private AI integrators for DigiLocker, while Bollywood actor Anushka Sharma-backed healthy food brand Slurrp Farm initiated early-stage talks for a fresh funding round, according to dispatches published by The Economic Times.

Under MeitY’s ongoing empanelment process, the central government is selecting private technical agencies to identify, integrate, and scale “requesters”—such as commercial banks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), educational boards, and telecom operators—onto DigiLocker’s consent-driven document repository. Concurrently, in the direct-to-consumer (D2C) consumer landscape, Wholsum Foods (parent entity of Slurrp Farm) is exploring fresh capital infusion to fund product expansion and provide secondary exit liquidity to early angel investors amid rising demand for millet-based supergrain snacking.

Key Takeaways

• Private AI Integrators for DigiLocker: MeitY is finalizing the selection of private technical agencies to onboard commercial and public “requester” institutions onto DigiLocker and drive sustained transactional volumes.
• CoRover and Kyndryl in Advanced Evaluation: Indian conversational AI platform CoRover and global IT infrastructure firm Kyndryl have cleared initial eligibility rounds and are currently undergoing technical assessment.
• Strict DPDP Act Compliance: Empanelled integrators are legally prohibited from caching, storing, retaining, profiling, or running secondary analytics on any citizen document data processed through DigiLocker endpoints.
• Slurrp Farm Explores Fresh Fundraise: D2C healthy food and breakfast cereal brand Slurrp Farm has initiated early discussions with venture capital and growth investors for a new equity funding round.
• Secondary Liquidity for Early Backers: The proposed funding round is expected to provide partial exit options for early investors looking to monetize holdings following rapid revenue expansion in the healthy snacking market.
• ₹827 Crore ($100M) Valuation Baseline: According to Tracxn data, Slurrp Farm was valued at approximately ₹827 crore ($90M–$100M) during its extended Series C round earlier this year.
• Celebrity & Institutional Backing: Key individual investors—including actor Anushka Sharma, Akasa Air co-founder Aditya Ghosh, and investor Ashish Dhawan—collectively hold an estimated 4.2% stake in the enterprise alongside venture funds like Fireside Ventures and Scarlet Ventures.

Part 1: Government Enlists Private AI Integrators to Scale DigiLocker

DigiLocker, operated under the National e-Governance Division (NeGD), functions as a core pillar of the India Stack. While millions of Indian citizens use the digital wallet to store Aadhaar cards, driving licenses, and academic marks sheets, the platform’s business model depends on “requester” organizations querying verified credentials via APIs to eliminate physical paperwork during loan originations, student admissions, and SIM card verifications.

                         THE REVISED DIGILOCKER INTEGRATION MODEL
                                            │
        ┌───────────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────┐
        ▼                                                                       ▼
HISTORICAL DIRECT ONBOARDING                                    EMPANELLED PRIVATE AI INTEGRATORS
• NeGD internally handles partner outreach                      • Private agencies scout, onboard & integrate requesters
• Bureaucratic technical integration timelines                  • Automated API mapping & conversational bots
• Moderate transactional uptake across non-govt bodies          • Active SLA-driven volume scaling & technical support
        │                                                                       │
        └───────────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────┘
                                            ▼
                             STRICT DPDP GOVERNANCE RAIL
                 • Zero document data storage or server-side caching
                 • Zero behavioral profiling or secondary analytics allowed
                 • End-to-end user-consented cryptographic retrieval

1. The Role of Private Integrators

To expand the number of participating commercial organizations, MeitY is shifting toward an empanelled agency framework:

• Requester Onboarding: Private technology partners will identify prospective requester organizations (such as regional rural banks, private universities, fintech lenders, and corporate HR departments), configure their technical environments, and connect them with DigiLocker’s API Setu infrastructure.
• Transaction Growth: Integrators will be incentivized on service-level agreements (SLAs) tied to active, billable API transaction volumes processed through their integration pipelines.
• Conversational AI Layering: Integrators are expected to embed generative AI assistants to guide organizational developers through API configuration, error code resolution, and automated sandbox testing.

2. Shortlisted Candidates: CoRover and Kyndryl

Two major technical providers have emerged at the front of the evaluation pipeline:

• CoRover: An Indian conversational AI provider known for developing the IRCTC “AskDISHA” passenger assistant and BharatGPT. CoRover brings localized conversational AI capabilities to simplify onboarding for non-metro institutions.
• Kyndryl: The multinational IT infrastructure provider (spun out of IBM) offers enterprise systems integration experience and global compliance capabilities.

3. Data Privacy and the DPDP Framework

With the enforcement of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, government officials confirmed that the empanelment framework includes strict legal guardrails:

• Empanelled partners act purely as technical facilitators and data conduits.
• Integrators are explicitly barred from storing, caching, retaining, or profiling any underlying citizen document data retrieved via the APIs.
• Any violation of data processing boundaries or unauthorized analytics will result in immediate contract termination, forfeiture of performance bank guarantees, and statutory financial penalties under the DPDP framework.