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IndiaAI has launched a new Face Authentication Challenge worth Rs. 2.5 crore to tackle examination fraud using artificial intelligence. The nationwide competition invites startups and research groups to design facial verification systems that can identify duplicate applications and prevent impersonation in large-scale exams.
Applications will remain open until October 25, 2025, under the IndiaAI Application Development Initiative, a government-backed program to build homegrown AI solutions for governance and public services.
The government is providing strong financial motivation to attract talented developers. Up to 10 shortlisted teams will receive Rs. 5 lakh to refine their prototypes. The top two teams will be offered two-year implementation contracts worth Rs. 1 crore each to deploy the final technology.
Participants must develop systems that efficiently perform one-to-many facial recognition, allowing candidate identities to be verified quickly and accurately. According to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the goal is to surpass conventional face comparison methods and use highly sophisticated AI-based recognition algorithms.
Recent pilot programs for securing the examination process have already demonstrated AI's potential. The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) conducted an AI-based facial verification trial during the NDA & NA II and CDS II examinations, which decreased verification times to less than 10 seconds per candidate.
The officials noted that such results indicate the AI verification systems' capability to minimize manual errors and prevent fraudulent activity in national-level tests.
Frauds and duplicacies are one of the major problems faced by India’s examination ecosystem. In early October, the Lucknow police exposed a "solver gang" that had manipulated images using AI to send their impostors to the IBPS Clerk Exam 2025, arresting ten people.
Such incidents necessitated the shutdown of the old unfair means through the enactment of stricter reforms like the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, which followed the trail of at least 48 paper leak incidents in 16 states that affected more than 1.5 crore candidates. The Face Authentication Challenge is committed to eliminating these weaknesses with the support of cutting-edge technology.
This challenge aligns with the government’s broader IndiaAI Mission, a Rs. 10,372 crore initiative to foster domestic AI development. To accelerate innovation, the mission provides startups and researchers with 38,000 GPUs at subsidized rates.
IndiaAI declared that the submitted solutions should be scalable, used in different industries, and support various applications beyond education. The initiative complements programs like the Global Impact Challenges, worth Rs. 5.85 crore. This reinforces India’s aim to lead in ethical and responsible AI deployment.
