The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), through its National e-Governance Division (NeGD), has partnered with the Association of Australian Education Representatives in India (AAERI) to launch 'AAERI Verify', a digital platform for document verification of Indian students applying to Australian universities. The platform was officially unveiled during the AAERI Annual Convention in New Delhi on August 7, 2026.
AAERI Verify integrates directly with DigiLocker, India's Digital Public Infrastructure initiative, to enable secure, paperless, and consent-based verification of academic, identity, and financial documents. The digital workflow replaces manual verification processes with a two-stage framework: Stage 1 (Student Check) conducted before the university application process begins, and Stage 2 (Sponsor Check) initiated after a student receives an admission offer to verify financial authenticity.
With explicit student consent, DigiLocker provides Australian universities direct access to digitally signed records from original issuing authorities, eliminating fraud risks, ensuring data privacy, and drastically reducing application processing times. DigiLocker currently serves over 72 crore registered users and enables secure issuance, storage, sharing, and real-time verification of digitally signed documents from authorized institutions.
Shri JL Gupta, Director of NeGD, highlighted that this collaboration demonstrates how India's Digital Public Infrastructure is solving real-world global challenges by providing a secure, paperless, and trusted framework that simplifies the international admission process for students. NeGD, established under MeitY in 2009, supports macro project management, policy framing, and technology appraisals, managing an expansive network of technology platforms across the government ecosystem including UPSC, MEA, and NITI Aayog.