Gradify Labs
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Standards explainer · Updated 2026

Verifiable Credentialsin India, Explained.

How the W3C Verifiable Credentials and Decentralized Identifiers standards map onto NAD, ABC, DigiLocker, and Samarth ERP — with a real JSON-LD example, DID-method tradeoffs, and DPDP Act notes. Written for university registrars, CTOs, and policy teams.

W3C VC Data Model 2.0DID v1.0JSON-LDNADABCDigiLockerSamarthDPDP Act 2023

The short version

India issues over 50 million academic credentials every year. Most are still PDFs or scanned images, verifiable only by calling the issuing university — a system that breaks at employment scale and is trivially forged.

The fix is not another centralised portal. It's adopting the same standards the rest of the world uses for digital credentials — W3C Verifiable Credentials (VC) and Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) — and mapping them onto India's existing public infrastructure: NAD, ABC, DigiLocker, and Samarth.

This page walks through what that mapping actually looks like — with a real JSON example, the integration patterns used in production, and the regulatory and privacy considerations every Indian university CTO should understand before signing a vendor.

Concrete example

What an Indian academic VC actually looks like

A B.Tech credential issued in W3C VC 2.0 JSON-LD format. Notice how abcId and nadCertificateId are first-class fields — a standard credential schema can carry India-specific identifiers without breaking interoperability.

{
  "@context": [
    "https://www.w3.org/2018/credentials/v1",
    "https://schema.org"
  ],
  "type": ["VerifiableCredential", "EducationalOccupationalCredential"],
  "issuer": "did:sol:9xQeWvG4khoSp4UjroMQUZuZGxQjkaFLCk5z8e7r3iV",
  "issuanceDate": "2026-05-09T10:00:00Z",
  "credentialSubject": {
    "id": "did:sol:HoLDeRwAlLeT4ddrEsSpUbLicKey1234567890abc",
    "name": "Priya Sharma",
    "credentialName": "Bachelor of Technology, Computer Science",
    "institution": "IIIT Surat",
    "abcId": "12-3456-7890-1234",
    "nadCertificateId": "NAD-2026-IIITS-040217"
  },
  "proof": {
    "type": "Ed25519Signature2020",
    "created": "2026-05-09T10:00:00Z",
    "proofPurpose": "assertionMethod",
    "verificationMethod": "did:sol:9xQeWvG4khoSp4UjroMQUZuZGxQjkaFLCk5z8e7r3iV#key-1",
    "proofValue": "z3Mvd...QkXvL"
  }
}

The five standards that matter

If a vendor cannot answer how their platform handles each of these, they are running a proprietary lock-in — not a verifiable credential platform.

StandardPurposeWhy it matters in India
W3C Verifiable Credentials Data Model 2.0Defines the JSON-LD structure of a credentialBaseline. Without this, credentials are not interoperable with any other VC system globally.
W3C Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) v1.0Globally unique, cryptographically verifiable identifier for issuer and holderLets the credential prove who issued it without phoning home to a university server.
JSON-LD with linked-data signaturesEmbeds the cryptographic proof inline so any party can re-verifyDefault for academic credentials because it is human-readable and graph-queryable.
JWT-VC (JSON Web Token VC)Compact alternative for low-bandwidth or QR-code use casesUseful for mobile-first verification (e.g., a verifier scanning a degree QR at a job fair).
BBS+ Selective DisclosureLets the holder reveal only one field of a credential without breaking the signaturePowers privacy-preserving claims like 'I have a degree from a NAAC A++ institution' without revealing CGPA.

Mapping VCs onto India's existing infrastructure

W3C VC is a wrapper, not a replacement. Here's how it attaches to the four systems your university almost certainly already uses or will be required to use under NEP 2020.

NAD (National Academic Depository)

NSDL & CDSL, regulated by UGC

VC mapping: NAD certificate ID is stored in the credentialSubject.nadCertificateId field. The on-chain proof is registered with NAD's API as a verifiable secondary record alongside the official PDF.

NAD remains the official record of truth under UGC regulations. The W3C VC layer adds instant cryptographic verification on top — it does not replace NAD, it extends it.

ABC (Academic Bank of Credits)

Operated by NeGD under MeitY, mandated by UGC

VC mapping: Each credit transaction (course completion, transferred credit, micro-credential) is issued as a VerifiableCredential with the student's ABC ID embedded in credentialSubject.abcId. Credits accumulate as a chain of signed credentials.

Critical for NEP 2020 multi-disciplinary, multi-institution credit transfer. A student moving from a state university to an autonomous college can present their VC chain — every credit is independently verifiable.

DigiLocker

Operated by NeGD under MeitY

VC mapping: Issued VCs are pushed to DigiLocker as 'issued documents' with a verifiable backlink. DigiLocker's existing XML format is wrapped inside a W3C VC envelope for cryptographic interoperability.

DigiLocker is the citizen-facing wallet most Indians already trust. Wrapping credentials in W3C VC keeps them interoperable with international SSI wallets without breaking DigiLocker.

Samarth ERP

MoE-backed open-source ERP for central universities

VC mapping: Credential issuance triggered from Samarth's examination module. The Samarth student ID maps to credentialSubject.id (a DID), and the marks are signed with the institution's private key managed by the credential infrastructure.

Most central universities run Samarth or are migrating to it. Native VC issuance from within the existing examination workflow avoids parallel data-entry overhead.

A DPDP Act warning that costs people money

Some vendors mint credentials as NFTs with the student's name and degree details written directly into on-chain metadata. This is a Personal Data publication under the DPDP Act 2023 — and it cannot be retracted.

A correctly designed system anchors only a hash or signed proof on-chain. Personal data lives encrypted in the holder's wallet or in access-controlled IPFS metadata. Always ask a vendor to show you exactly what bytes hit the blockchain before you sign.

Frequently asked questions

What is a Verifiable Credential in the Indian education context?+
A W3C Verifiable Credential is a tamper-evident digital claim — for example, 'IIIT Surat certifies that Priya Sharma was awarded a B.Tech in CSE on 2026-05-09'. The credential carries a cryptographic signature from the issuing institution. Anyone can verify it without contacting IIIT Surat. In India, VCs sit on top of NAD, ABC, and DigiLocker — they make existing records cryptographically verifiable rather than replacing them.
Should we use JSON-LD or JWT for academic verifiable credentials?+
JSON-LD is the default for university-issued credentials because it preserves linked-data semantics — a degree credential can reference the institution's ROR ID, the programme's NEP-classified discipline, and the student's ABC ID as machine-resolvable links. JWT-VC is preferred only when the credential needs to fit inside a QR code or NFC tag for offline verification at a job fair.
Which DID method should an Indian university use?+
Pragmatic options: did:web (resolved via the university's HTTPS domain — easiest, no blockchain dependency), did:sol (Solana on-chain — what Gradify uses for issuer identity), and did:key (for ephemeral student-side identifiers). Most production deployments combine did:web for institutions and did:sol or a chain-anchored DID for credential proofs.
Is W3C VC compliant with the DPDP Act 2023?+
Yes, when designed correctly. Personal data should never be embedded in plaintext on a public blockchain — the on-chain record is a hash or signature, while personally identifiable fields stay encrypted in the holder's wallet or in IPFS-stored encrypted metadata. Selective disclosure (BBS+) further reduces exposure during verification, supporting the DPDP Act's data-minimisation principle.
How does Gradify implement W3C VC?+
Gradify issues credentials in the W3C VC Data Model 2.0 format with Ed25519Signature2020 proofs. Issuer DIDs are anchored on Solana (did:sol). Credential metadata is stored on IPFS, content-addressed. ABC ID and NAD certificate ID are first-class fields in the credentialSubject. Verifiers can be any W3C-compliant wallet, our public verifier, or a custom integration via our API.
How is this different from a digitally signed PDF?+
A signed PDF only proves that the file has not changed — and only if the verifier has and trusts the signing certificate. A W3C VC is parseable as data, not a document; it can be selectively disclosed, presented to multiple verifiers without re-issuance, embedded in a wallet, and verified against a public, decentralised key registry. The signing PDF model puts the burden on every verifier to trust certificate authorities; the VC model puts the proof in the credential itself.
Can a student carry their VC across countries?+
Yes. Because W3C VC is a global standard, a credential issued by an Indian university is verifiable by any W3C-compliant wallet or verifier — including those used by foreign universities for admissions and by international employers for background checks. This is the strongest practical argument for adopting the standard rather than a proprietary format.

Issue your first W3C VC this quarter

Gradify Labs ships standards-compliant verifiable credentials from day one — no proprietary lock-in, no manual NAD/ABC workarounds. We'll walk your team through the architecture and quote against your enrolment.

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W3C VC 2.0 · DID v1.0 · DPDP-aligned