Uniform smart driving license, RC across India from 2019

Thanks to Sandeep H Das for bringing this to our attention.

In 2019, the Government of India plans to introduce smart driving licenses and vehicle registration certificates (RC) that will be uniform across all states.

According to a media report, Regional Transport Offices (RTO) across India will start issuing driving licenses in a set format, colour & design. These will carry embedded microchips and QR codes as well. The licenses will reportedly have near-field communication (NFC) feature, which will allow the traffic police to access details of the license holder. The smart licenses will also have information like blood group, declaration for organ donation and category of vehicle. It will have emblems of both the state and national issuing authority. Similar changes have been proposed for vehicle registration certificates.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has said that the groundwork for this new system has already begun and the nationwide roll out is expected by July 2019. Those applying for renewal or re-registration will automatically get a new driving license and RC. 

The new system will use a new database, which is expected to reduce multiplicity of driving licenses. Linking Aadhar to driving licenses through apps like Digilocker and mParivahan could also help achieve this.

Source: TOI