Vehicle data shared only in masked form: ULIP

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After the Road Ministry sought an audit of users accessing the Centre’s logistics portal following complaints that multiple apps and websites were selling vehicle information, the Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP) rejected the allegations of its misuse. It said all data were masked and called for broader scrutiny of the platforms involved.

“ULIP relays information in the format received from the source API. For example, vehicle owner names, chassis and engine numbers retain their masking, and the mobile number field remains null in both the source response and the response provided to users. ULIP does not independently generate, unmask or enrich the underlying data,” ULIP wrote in response to a story in The Hindu.

The Road Ministry sought an audit after finding that some entities were extracting data in large volumes from ULIP with some as many pulling out as many as 50 lakh records a month. The Road Ministry shares vehicle information with multiple government agencies and private firms from its portals such as VAHAN, SARATHI, e-Challan and PUCC portals.