The National Academic Depository (NAD) which is a 24 X 7 online store house of academic awards digitally lodged by various academic institutions / school boards / eligibility assessment bodies has been established. The academic awards to be lodged on NAD shall cover degrees, diplomas, certificates, mark-sheets including awards issued for skill development. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has been designated as authorized body to operationalise NAD.

NAD comprises of two interoperable digital depositories viz., NDSL Database Management Limited (NDML) and CDSL Ventures Limited (CVL). Maintenance of academic awards in a digital depository not only enables online access, retrieval and verification of these awards, but also helps eliminating fraudulent practices such as forgoing of certificates and mark-sheets etc.

The Aadhaar will be used for registration and usage of the digital database. However, in the event of non-availability of Aadhaar, a unique NAD ID will be generated to facilitate digital services to NAD users.

This information was given by the Minister of State (HRD), Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey today in a written reply to a Lok Sabha question.