CONTEXT: THE NEED FOR A DIGITAL ADDRESS REVOLUTION

• India has long struggled with inconsistent, ambiguous, and unstandardized address systems, especially in rural and underserved areas.
• The earlier DIGIPIN system, under the National Addressing Grid, introduced geo-coded, spatially accurate digital addresses to tackle this.
• With rising demands in e-governance, emergency services, logistics, and fintech, there is a growing need for interoperable, real-time, and secure address infrastructure.

CONCEPT: DHRUVA – A UNIFIED, USER-CENTRIC ADDRESS-AS-A-SERVICE (AAAS)

• DHRUVA stands for Digital Hub for Reference and Unique Virtual Address.
• It transforms digital addresses into public digital infrastructure (DPI)—akin to Aadhaar and UPI.
• Introduces Address-as-a-Service (AaaS):
  •  Interoperability between various sectors
  • Standardization of formats and geo-tags
  •  Consent-driven sharing for privacy and control
  • Public-private partnerships for innovation
• Benefits of DHRUVA:
  • Enables targeted delivery of government schemes
  • Boosts financial inclusion and digital accessibility in rural areas
  • Supports real-time verification for KYC and compliance
  • Enhances logistics, e-commerce, and emergency response efficiency

CURRENT: IMPLEMENTATION, FEEDBACK & FUTURE VISION

• The Department of Posts has unveiled the DHRUVA policy and opened it for public consultation till July 31, 2025.
• DHRUVA aims to:
  • Empower users with address ownership and update rights
  • Ensure mobile-first, multilingual access
  • Integrate with Aadhaar and other identity systems
• Key applications include:
  • Smart urban planning and disaster response
  • Streamlined last-mile delivery
  • Improved government-to-citizen communication
  • Supporting startups via open APIs and address-data services

 Challenges Ahead:

• Need for wide stakeholder adoption
• Ensuring data privacy and infrastructure scalability
• Balancing urban-rural implementation equity