National Academic Depository (NAD)

The government has established a Digital Depository of Academic Awards known as the National Academic Depository (NAD), on the pattern of Securities Depository. The NAD helps in validating the authenticity of these awards and ensuring their safe storage and easy retrieval. Maintaining academic awards in a Digital Depository benefits educational institutions, students, and employers by enabling online access and retrieval, eliminating fraudulent practices such as faking/forging of certificates and mark-sheets, and facilitating validation.

NAD is an initiative of the Government of India, facilitated by MHRD. NAD is a national database set up to hold academic awards issued by Academic Institutions (AI) in an electronic form. MHRD has proposed to establish a Digital Depository for School Leaving Certificates, College Degrees, Academic Awards, and Mark sheets, on the pattern of a Securities Depository. This will help validate their authenticity, safe storage, and easy retrieval.

Academic Bank of Credits (ABC)

Academic Bank of Credits has been established on the lines of the National Academic Depository (NAD), in the sense that NAD is the backbone of ABC, where the students' academic data are held and academic awards are stored (i.e., storehouse of academic awards). Despite the fact that ABC enables students to register or commence credit transfer, the final outcomes of credit redemption and issuance of certificates, as well as the compilation of award records, are administered by academic institutions via the NAD Platform.