Digital life certificates jump 60% as face authentication use reaches nearly 80%

Pensioners generated nearly 40 lakh Digital Life Certificates (DLCs) in the first five days of this year's campaign, about 60% more than the roughly 25 lakh in the same period last year, Minister Jitendra Singh said.

Singh, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, launched DLC Campaign 5 at a press conference at the National Media Centre in New Delhi. The share of certificates generated by face authentication has risen from 61% to nearly 80% over the same period.

Why face authentication matters

Singh said face recognition lets pensioners generate a certificate on a mobile phone without going to a bank or office. Of 1.92 crore DLCs generated last year, about 1.17 crore used face authentication. He traced the shift from paper certificates to fingerprint biometrics and then to face authentication, to overcome limits faced by elderly pensioners.

The pensioner population

Central government pensioners now number nearly 70 lakh, against about 50 lakh working employees. Singh said this reverses the earlier position, when employees numbered 55 to 60 lakh and pensioners about 50 lakh. He argued that senior citizens' experience should be put to use in nation-building.

He also cited pension reforms by the Department of Pension and Pensioners' Welfare: pension adalats for long-pending cases, the CPENGRAMS grievance system and simplified rules. He described the campaign as a "whole of government" and "whole of society" effort, with banks, pensioner associations and families, including grandchildren helping grandparents, taking part.

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Source: official release by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, issued through the Press Information Bureau, Government of India (06 NOV 2026 4:47PM by PIB Delhi). Read the full official text: Face Authentication Adoption Surges to 80% as DLC Campaign 5 Generates Nearly 40 Lakh Certificates in First Five Days: Dr. Jitendra Singh.