Policy StatementΒΆ

Government of India shall adopt Open APIs to enable quick and transparent integration with other e-Governance applications and systems implemented by various Government organizations, thereby providing access to data & services and promoting citizen participation for the benefit of the community. The Open APIs shall have the following characteristics for publishing and consumption: The relevant information being provided by all Government organisations through their respective e-Governance applications shall be open and machine readable.

  1. The relevant information being provided by all Government organisations through their respective e-Governance applications shall be open and machine readable.

  2. All the relevant information and data of a Government organisation shall be made available by Open APIs, as per the classification given in the National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (NDSAP-2012), so that the public can access information and data.

  3. All Open APIs built and data provided, shall adhere to National Cyber Security Policy.

  4. The Government organizations shall make sure that the Open APIs are stable and scalable.

  5. All the relevant information, data and functionalities within an e-Governance application or system of a Government organisation shall be made available to other e-Governance applications and systems through Open APIs which should be platform and language independent.

  6. A Government organisation consuming the data and information from other e-Governance applications and systems using Open APIs shall undertake information handling, authentication and authorisation through a process as defined by the API publishing Organisation.

  7. Each published API of a Government organization shall be provided free of charge whenever possible to other Government organizations and public.

  8. Each published API shall be properly documented with sample code and sufficient information for developers to make use of the API.

  9. The life-cycle of the Open API shall be made available by the API publishing Government organisation. The API shall be backward compatible with at least two earlier versions.

  10. All Open API systems built and data provided shall adhere to GoI security policies and guidelines.

  11. Government organizations may use an authentication mechanism to enable service interoperability and single sign-on.