A national identity card is a portable document, typically a plasticized card with digitally-embedded information, that someone is required or encouraged to carry as a means of confirming their identity. A smartcard based national identity card is a plastic card with a chip in which all the essential data is written. A national ID card contains information about the person carrying the card such as: name, address, place of birth, date of birth, educational qualifications, biometric information such as passport size photograph and finger print of two fingers. Apart from this information it contains a unique number which is the national ID number of the card.

The biometric information stored on the card helps in confirming the identity of the person. Till now, in India, the citizens are required to provide ration cards or passports or PAN cards none of which are mandatory. None of these are actually identity cards. They are used to identify a person or as address proof as there is no proper identity card available. The National ID project was undertaken by NIC and IIT Kanpur jointly. It was worked upon in 2003 - 2004. In 2005-2006, a pilot project was launched by NIC under which Two lakh citizens of India were issued the national ID card.