India’s remarkable success in developing a robust Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) has not only transformed governance and financial inclusion domestically but has also positioned the country as a potential global leader in digital solutions. With its innovative and cost-effective approach, India now has an unparalleled opportunity to develop, customize, and deploy DPI models for other nations.
DPI in India encompasses a wide range of services, including Aadhaar (digital identity), UPI (real-time payment system), and various sectoral applications such as Diksha (education) and Arogya Setu (healthcare). These digital solutions are accessible via computers and mobile devices, ensuring widespread reach and usability.
The scale of India’s DPI success is staggering. Aadhaar has provided unique digital identities to 1.3 billion Indians, while UPI recorded 16.58 billion transactions worth ₹23.5 trillion in a single month as of October 2024. With over 500 million users and 50 million merchants, UPI has revolutionized India’s financial ecosystem, making it one of the most successful public-private digital collaborations in the world.
Though DPI has yet to create a global disruption on the scale of China’s DeepSeek, an AI-powered alternative to ChatGPT, it has garnered immense international recognition. At the AI Action Summit in Paris earlier this month, Google CEO Sundar Pichai commended Prime Minister Narendra Modi for implementing Aadhaar at an incredibly low cost. He emphasized how India’s DPI, built on an open and regulated framework, has been instrumental in modernizing the economy, reforming governance, and improving lives.
At the Asia Economic Dialogue 2025 held at the Pune International Centre, African development expert Prof. Hebatallah Adam highlighted how Africa could greatly benefit from India’s expertise in DPI. “Capacity-building in digital infrastructure is an area where India can play a vital role in Africa’s transformation,” she said.
Rajnish Kumar, former SBI chairman and current Mastercard India chairman, also shed light on India’s digital banking transformation. He revealed that as of August 2024, SBI’s YONO digital banking app had 80 million users—more than the population of the UK or Germany. He lauded UPI as the world’s finest example of public-private partnership, describing it as the “envy of global banking systems”.
Experts believe that India’s DPI model can be replicated in many countries, particularly in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, where digital transformation is still in its early stages. In a 2024 interview, Nandan Nilekani, founding chairman of UIDAI, disclosed that India’s DPI solutions had already been deployed in 15 countries, with an ambitious plan to expand to 50 nations in the next five years.
India’s G20 presidency in 2023 played a crucial role in this expansion. The release of the ‘Report of India’s G20 Task Force on Digital Infrastructure’ by Amitabh Kant and Nandan Nilekani provided a major boost to India’s DPI vision, cementing its potential as a global digital powerhouse.
Despite India’s technological advancements, it still lacks a single globally dominant product, unlike China, Japan, South Korea, or Taiwan. The legacy of bureaucratic red tape, slow-paced economic reforms, low R&D investments, and poor ease of doing business has historically prevented India from competing in global markets. However, DPI offers a chance to change this narrative.
Experts argue that India’s DPI is more advanced than many developed nations’ digital infrastructure, making it a powerful exportable asset. While India continues to engage in trade partnerships and defense deals with developed economies, securing DPI-based contracts from these nations would be a true testament to India’s growing digital strength.
During a recent interaction at IISER Pune, Dinanath Kholkar, former TCS executive and PIC trustee, emphasized the tremendous career opportunities in DPI for young Indian IT professionals. He described India’s digital global positioning as a strategic advantage between the US and China, reinforcing the need to customize and deploy DPI for underdeveloped and developing nations.
As India continues to push boundaries in digital innovation, its ability to export DPI solutions could not only enhance its global influence but also drive economic growth, create high-value tech jobs, and elevate India’s stature as a leader in digital governance. The world is watching, and India must capitalize on this golden opportunity.
Author: This news is edited by: Abhishek Verma, (Editor, CANON TIMES)
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