The National Academic Depository (NAD) is an important digital governance mechanism for academic records in India. The background problem is the scale and diversity of the education system: about 14.71 lakh schools as per 2024-25 data, 1420 universities, 53,583 colleges, 16,795 standalone institutions and 280 research institutions generate lakhs of academic records every year, including degrees, diplomas, certificates, marksheets and evaluation reports. Managing these records on paper takes time, is costly and inefficient, and creates risks of loss, damage, fraud and delay in manual verification.
NAD responds to this problem by providing a nationwide system to digitally store, verify, authenticate and issue academic awards. Since 2020, NAD has been implemented through DigiLocker, which was launched on 1 July 2015 under the Digital India programme and works as the operational digital platform for issuing and accessing academic certificates. The system also connects with the Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry and the Academic Bank of Credits, which manage students' credit scores and support academic mobility.
Governance-wise, the Ministry of Education is the main ministry responsible for NAD, and the University Grants Commission has been made the nodal agency for implementing NAD through DigiLocker. The legal basis includes the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Digital Locker Rules, 2016, and the National e-Authentication Framework. NAD enables consent-based sharing, faster verification, reduced dependence on physical documents, and easier admission, recruitment and credential verification processes.