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Business Standard
a day ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Digi Yatra to expand to 15 more airports in India, says Siddharth Verma
Digi Yatra, an initiative co-ordinated by the civil aviation ministry to ensure seamless travel for passengers from the airport gates to boarding a flight, will be available in 15 more airports this fiscal, Siddharth Verma, head of IT operations at Digi Yatra Foundation, said. "All the metros are done and all the big airports are done. So now we are left with the smaller airports where the ministry evaluates if there is a need at all or not. Because at times you don't need such solutions if the volume is very low, or there is just one gate," he told Business Standard. Five of the new airports include Mangalore, Trivandrum, Srinagar, Chandigarh, and Nagpur. The rest are managed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), whose infrastructure is ready but where technology integration is still under way. India has 24 of its major airports covered under Digi Yatra, covering nearly 90 per cent of outbound passenger traffic, Verma added. The upcoming airports in Navi Mumbai and Noida are not part of the 15, he clarified. Digi Yatra's technology, launched in 2022, has revolutionised travel across Indian airports through the implementation of self-sovereign identity or decentralised ID, which allows users to control their online information. Authentication is done through two documents: the Aadhaar and the boarding pass. To date, the app has been downloaded 14 million times and has facilitated more than 56 million journeys across Indian airports. 'It should be like a walk in the park, a kind of experience where nobody should ask for your documents. You just show your face and keep walking through the touchpoints seamlessly and don't have to exchange your documents with anyone.' The Digi Yatra app is linked with the UIDAI ecosystem. When a passenger downloads the app, fills in the required details — including the Aadhaar number — and receives an OTP to authenticate, UIDAI sends the Aadhaar details to the phone. 'Then your proof of presence is established by taking your selfie and matching it with the image on your Aadhaar. These two must match. We then create a verified credential (VC), which is like a digital photocopy with a digital stamp called proof value. This proof value, along with the ID document, is stored in the Digi Yatra wallet on the user's phone until it is deleted by the user.' Even with Aadhaar, Digi Yatra follows what Verma terms data minimisation. Only the passenger's name, gender, date of birth, and masked Aadhaar number are taken. 'Your address is not pulled because it is not required for this use case. Privacy by design means data minimisation must be embedded at the core.' The second step involves uploading the boarding pass. The technology pulls data from the QR code, including date of travel, name, seat number, PNR, origin, destination, and sequence number. 'When you link your boarding pass, we match the name linked earlier from your Aadhaar with the name on the boarding pass. If these match, along with the real-time facial image clicked at the airport, the gate opens. All this happens automatically. There is no human intervention,' Verma explains. Asked about data security concerns, he said data shared with the origin airport is deleted from Digi Yatra's biometric gallery within 24 hours of flight departure. 'The data becomes instantly obsolete. That's how the architecture is designed. Airports also cannot retain the data as per policy.' Digi Yatra also conducts annual audits at the enabled airports to ensure compliance with these policy guidelines and verify that systemic scripts are in place. 'Some airports delete it within four hours, some within five. Others delete it as per the policy required by the CISF and other security agencies.'
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First Post
22-04-2025
- Business
- First Post
A country of unicorns but not enough women CXOs to run them?
Women represent a mere 2% of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), and fewer than 1% hold Chief Technology Officer (CTO) or Chief Information Officer (CIO) titles read more India's tech-fuelled unicorn boom may be a symbol of economic vitality and entrepreneurial spirit. But beneath the surface of sky-high valuations and headline-grabbing growth lies a troubling truth: the C-suites of India's unicorns remain overwhelmingly male. A new report by talent solutions firm Xpheno reveals that women occupy just 10 per cent of top executive roles across 117 Indian-born unicorns, Times of India reported. The study analysed 400 CXOs and found that the gender imbalance is particularly acute in core business and product-facing positions. While women make up more than half of all Chief Human Resource Officers (CHROs), they represent a mere 2 per cent of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), and fewer than 1 per cent hold Chief Technology Officer (CTO) or Chief Information Officer (CIO) titles. Advertisement Marketing is slightly more diverse— women account for 18 per cent of Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs)— but the broader picture remains grim. The report paints a clear image of gender-role clustering: 62 per cent of female CXOs are concentrated in HR, whereas 45 per cent of male CXOs occupy the more strategically influential roles of CEO, CTO or Chief Financial Officer (CFO). 'Diversity has clearly made inroads into HR but remains marginal in roles historically associated with core business and product functions,' the report concludes. And it is not for lack of experience— women CXOs average 24 years in the workforce, slightly higher than their male counterparts at 22 years. A slow climb to the top One of the more striking findings of the report is the age distribution of women in leadership. Among CXOs aged 33 to 37, only 7 per cent are women. This number climbs to 16 per cent in the 48 to 52 age group, suggesting that women take longer to ascend to the highest ranks. The reasons are both systemic and personal, according to Siddharth Verma, head of executive search at Xpheno. 'The relative time taken for women leaders to move up the ranks does display a lag in comparison to their male counterparts,' Times of India quoted Verma as saying. 'Apart from the enterprise contexts of lower supply, challenges with dynamics of acceptance and in many cases the personal context of planned career breaks, do collectively play spoilsport and impact velocity of movement.' Women executives also demonstrate greater organisational loyalty, with longer tenures in their current roles. Pedigree matters In both genders, elite educational backgrounds play a decisive role. A full 58 per cent of CXOs completed undergraduate studies at premier institutions, and 90 per cent hold postgraduate degrees from such institutes. The figures only go to show how important pedigree remains in gaining access to India's narrow leadership pipeline.
Time of India
21-04-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Women CXOs missing in unicorn corner rooms
BENGALURU: India's unicorns may be commanding investor attention and scaling rapidly, but their top leadership remains largely male-dominated, according to new data from talent solutions firm Xpheno. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The report, based on an analysis of 400 CXOs across 117 Indian-born unicorns, found that women hold only 10% of C-suite roles. This disparity is most pronounced in technology and executive roles. While women constitute 54% of CHROs, they account for just 2% of CEOs and fewer than 1% of CTOs or CIOs. The CMO role fared slightly better, with 18% representation. "Diversity has clearly made inroads into HR but remains marginal in roles historically associated with core business and product functions," the report observes. The findings point to persistent gender-role clustering: 62% of women CXOs are in HR, while 45% of men are concentrated in CEO, CTO, or CFO roles. Although this division mirrors broader industry trends, the disparity is notable in a often hailed as progressive. The average age of a CXO in a unicorn stands at 43.5 years. The data reveals an interesting pattern regarding female leadership representation across age groups. The presence of women in senior positions increases in higher age brackets, indicating they attain these roles later in their professional journey. Statistical analysis shows that whilst only 7% of CXOs between ages 33-37 are women, this percentage rises to 16% for the 48-52 age group. This pattern suggests that although women are achieving leadership positions, they face a longer path to reach these roles compared to their counterparts. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now "The relative time taken for women leaders to move up the ranks does display a lag in comparison to their male counterparts. Apart from the enterprise contexts of lower supply, challenges with dynamics of acceptance and in many cases the personal context of planned career breaks, do collectively play spoilsport and impact velocity of movement," Siddharth Verma, head of executive search in Xpheno, told TOI. In terms of professional background, women CXOs average 24 years of experience-slightly higher than men at 22 years-and display longer tenures with current employers. Nearly 60% of women CXOs switched industries and 79% of all CXOs changed functional roles before taking on their current mandates. However, only 31% of women moved locations for their roles, compared to 33% of men. Educational pedigree plays a significant role in CXO composition. While 58% of CXOs completed their undergraduate degrees at premier institutions, the number rises to 90% for postgraduate education, reinforcing the importance of elite credentials in accessing leadership pipelines. The CXO pool studied in the report had 119 founders and co-founders. These 33 founders and 86 co-founders are those who hold an active C-suite role in their organisation currently. As the country cements its position as the third-largest unicorn ecosystem globally, the composition of its executive leadership reveals both progress and structural inertia. In March, TOI reported that women also remained significantly underrepresented in India's venture capital (VC) industry, especially in decision-making roles. Among the 20 most active VC investors that TOI analysed, several firms have no women at all in their investment teams, including Z47, Stellaris Venture Partners, and Nexus Venture Partners. Peak XV Partners has the highest absolute number of women investors, with 13 out of 44, while firms such as Blume Ventures (6 out of 23) and Accel India (5 out of 25) have relatively better representation.
