 "Bengaluru Tech Summit: India's DPI has reached maturity level to go global")
India’s digital public infrastructure (DPI) has reached a maturity level to go global and be adopted by other countries, said industry leaders at the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2024. DPI refers to platforms such as digital identification, payments infrastructure, and data-exchange solutions. These enable countries to deliver essential services, empower citizens, and improve lives by promoting digital inclusion.
“DPI India Stack is at a level of maturity in the country where it can take off globally,” said Rajiv Bansal, chief executive officer, National Institute for Smart Government (NISG).
Leaders from the G20 Troika, comprising India, Brazil, and South Africa, this week announced a joint declaration to leverage digital public infrastructure (DPI), artificial intelligence (AI), and data-driven governance to reduce inequality and promote sustainable development.
“Now that India Stack (DPI) has matured, there is a huge opportunity to take this experience globally, and this is something we are engaged in,” said Bansal. “The key players from the government side are the ministry of external affairs and the ministry of electronics and information technology. On the private side, there are Indian and international companies, product providers, and organisations such as MOSIP (modular open-source identity platform). Together we are in the process of taking some of these DPI initiatives globally.”
Bansal said such work is being done for a large nationwide foundational ID project undertaken by Sri Lanka. An RFP (request for proposal) will be rolled out in the coming months. “We are project management consultants for them,” said Bansal. “We are also working with countries such as Gambia, Mauritius, and Myanmar. There is an opportunity in Belize. Delegations are coming from South Africa and Fiji soon to see what India is doing in this space. There are also pilot projects taking place in several countries. Most of the countries want to start with a foundational ID similar to our Aadhaar. But then there are several other initiatives like Unified Payments Interface (UPI)—used by platforms like Juspay and PhonePe, in products like DigiLocker, and in fields like education and healthcare,” said Bansal.
Sanjay Jain, director, digital public infrastructure, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), said the success of DPI in India has sparked massive conversations globally. “Open source fits into it. The idea is that you build it in the open so that the public benefit can be guaranteed,” said Jain.
More From This Section
Citizens may have some apprehension about data privacy. Sharad Sharma, co-founder of iSPIRT, a technology think tank, said platforms such as DigiYatra, Aadhaar, and UPI are designed in such a manner that the government cannot breach data privacy.
“DigiYatra doesn’t have that technical capability. All that information is in your phone. There is no central storage of the data. Even if the government comes and asks, they can’t get the answer. The information is purged,” said Sharma. “This is why India’s DPI story is succeeding outside. These are the deep thoughts that are actually making the Indian DPI story attractive in privacy-concerned countries, including Germany,” said Sharma.
India’s current digital public infrastructure (DPI) landscape has provided 97 per cent of the population with a digital ID, facilitated direct benefit transfers (DBT) for 900 million people, and given 40 per cent of the 1.2 billion population access to banking facilities, according to a report by Redseer Strategy Consultants.
India’s DPI has expanded beyond Aadhaar and UPI, creating impact across sectors, including e-commerce, gaming, fintech, banking, and MSMEs.
It has a symbiotic relationship with the startup ecosystem, adding over $100 billion in value across multiple sectors of the Indian internet economy.