On October 18, 2021, the Ministry of Communications’ Department of Posts released the “Draft Approach Paper for Generating a Digital Address Code,” which outlines the plan for creating a Digital Address Code (“DAC”) for all addresses in India. The DAC is described in the strategy paper as being unique to each address, linked to the building’s or establishment’s geographical coordinates, and useable by all stakeholders to be captured in a QR code or mapped digitally.
Digital Address Code Draft
It has been determined that in some Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, a lack of planning makes it impossible to locate addresses, making it difficult to target social sector benefits. In November 2020, a group of ministers led by the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment delivered a report to the Prime Minister urging that the country’s address identifiers be replaced with a unique code.
The GoM recommended that all addresses be assigned an alphanumeric code, which would address a number of issues such as responding quickly in the event of a natural disaster or a disaster such as a fire, making it easier for an ambulance to reach any medical patient, and formalizing revenue issues such as property and water tax for municipal corporations.
Each address, regardless of its size, would be assigned a DAC, according to the Draft Approach Paper. Even in a multi-unit building, each apartment would be assigned a DAC. The DAC for the addresses will likewise be permanent, therefore it will be independent of the state in which the address is located. Fluid parameters such as street numbers/names and colony names will also be excluded from the DAC.