India achieved in 9 years what would have taken 50 years without DPI: Amitabh Kant

India did an incredible pole vault in Digital Public Infrastructure and achieved in 9 years what would have taken 50 years without Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), says G20 India Sherpa Amitabh Kant.

“Today in India, UPI is used at all levels from street vendors to large shopping malls, with the highest percentage of digital transactions globally, accounting for nearly 46% share. All these proved to be building blocks for India to steer through the COVID-19 pandemic, be it the transfer $4.5 billion into the bank accounts of 160 million beneficiaries or facilitate distribution of 2.5 million vaccinations in two years with digital vaccine certificates on mobiles,” Kant says while releasing the ‘Report of India’s G20 Task Force on Digital Public Infrastructure’.

The task force was led by the co-chairs — Amitabh Kant, G20 Sherpa of India and Nandan Nilekani, co-founder and chairman of Infosys and the founding chairman of UIDAI (Aadhaar).

The work of this task force had led to the acceptance of the definition and framework of the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) during India’s G20 Presidency and will be taken forward for implementation during the Brazilian and South African Presidencies.

“Governments and businesses around the world are increasingly realising that if they really want to achieve SDGs (sustainable development goals) and social goals like inclusive growth, it has to have underlying DPI to make that happen. DPI has the power to dramatically improve the lives of citizens and transform governance. It has happened here in India and it started with the Aadhaar ID system, aimed at providing a digital identity to every Indian. Now, around 1.3 billion Indians possess this digital ID and on average 10 million eKYC per day is being facilitated through Aadhar,” says Nandan Nilekani, co-chair of task force.

“In payment, UPI facilitates 13 billion transactions monthly, serving about 350 million individuals and 50 million merchants and DPI-enabled direct transfer has saved the Government $41 billion across Central Government Schemes. Therefore, it’s no longer a choice or a luxury, DPI is essential to get to where we want. This Report will play a key role in defining the future course of DPI approach and actions around the globe,” Nilekani adds.

India's digital public infrastructure (DPI) – digital identity, fast payment system along with consent-based data sharing - has demonstrated how 1.4 billion individuals can access socio-economically important services in the field of finance, health, education, e-Governance, taxation, skills etc, says the finance ministry.

This infrastructure is a result of a strong partnership between the public and private sectors, unlocking innovations to address the size and diversity of the Indian population, says the ministry of finance. “Such digital highways can significantly improve productivity of private and public sectors alike in both advanced as well as emerging economies and benefit citizens across the world to achieve higher and sustainable growth,” it says.