CHENNAI: Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari informed Parliament that the government earned over Rs 100 crore by sharing vehicle registration and driving licence data with private companies and institutions.
According to Gadkari, access to the VAHAN and SARATHI databases—containing vehicle registration and driving licence details—was provided under a “bulk data sharing policy.” The government collected around Rs 111 crore in total revenue from this initiative before the policy was discontinued in 2020.
Private companies such as automobile manufacturers, banks, insurance firms, and financial service providers paid Rs 3 crore each for annual access to the data. Educational and research institutions were charged Rs 5 lakh for similar access. The list of recipients reportedly included major entities like BMW India, Mercedes-Benz India, Axis Bank, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, and L&T Financial Services.
The data-sharing policy was introduced in 2019 to enable the use of transport data for innovation, research, and commercial purposes. However, it was withdrawn in June 2020 amid rising privacy and security concerns. The government has since decided to provide only analytical reports or aggregated data rather than full access to the databases.
Gadkari also clarified that there was no proposal under consideration to ask companies to delete the data already accessed.
The VAHAN and SARATHI systems, managed by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, compile nationwide records of registered vehicles and issued driving licences. While monetising these datasets generated non-tax revenue, the move raised questions over personal data protection and potential misuse by private entities.
The decision to discontinue bulk data sharing reflects the government’s effort to balance innovation and transparency with data privacy and responsible governance.
