DPIs form the cornerstone to shape India’s “techade” – Technology News

Government agencies are increasingly looking for ways to improve responsiveness, efficiency, and productivity to meet rising public expectations. To that effect, a strong digital public infrastructure (DPI) is a prerequisite to accelerate economic growth, foster inclusion, improve public services, and enable private sector innovation by creating open, interoperable digital systems. Some of the well-known initiatives, like Aadhaar digital identity programme, Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) for e-commerce, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for digital payments, among others, are playing a crucial role in transforming infrastructure, governance, and public services.

Experts underline the role of digital platforms

At the 3rd FE Digital Bharat Economy Conclave 2025, held in New Delhi today, some of the key speakers explored how robust, inclusive, and scalable digital systems can accelerate India’s digital transformation. That is, the expansion and interoperability of platforms like Aadhaar, UPI, and Account Aggregator to drive inclusion, efficiency, and seamless service delivery across sectors.

Addressing the session on scaling digital public infrastructure in the country, Saransh Agrawal, chief of staff, ONDC, spoke on how the platform is transforming e-commerce by democratising access, empowering small businesses, and driving innovation. “What DPI stands for has to be very simple, and we have so many great lessons to learn. When I think it was UPI, I scan a QR code and the payment happens. That’s the assurance of UPI. It took more than a decade to actually convince everyone of that. Similarly, for ONDC, we are working on defining it for someone in rural India who may not understand technology,” he said.

An initiative by the department of promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT), ministry of commerce, ONDC is aimed at democratising digital commerce through the development of an interoperable open network for digital transactions. Agrawal said that the platform is extending its reach into rural India by partnering with the common services centres (CSCs) to onboard rural citizens and sellers onto the ONDC network.

In his remarks, Sunil Pandita, SVP & head of business, South Asia, Newgen Software, pointed out that DPI acts as a virtuous system by integrating identity (like Aadhaar), the payment layer (like UPI), cashless transactions, consent management, and the Account Aggregator framework to deliver inclusive services and empower citizens in India. This infrastructure enables the leveraging of digital goods to provide better services, expand financial inclusion for the unbanked, and foster economic growth by creating a fertile ground for public and private innovation in various sectors, including finance. “By combining these elements (Aadhaar, UPI, Account Aggregator), the DPI allows for the efficient delivery of various government and private services, streamlining processes and improving citizen access to essential services,” he said.

Talking about Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), Sirin Kumar, general manager, Reserve Bank of India, said, the digital rupee project was started in November 2022 and a lot of technical infrastructure and fine-tuning is taking place in the background. “More banks and financial players are getting connected to the project. The project adds to the country’s digital public infrastructure by enhancing existing systems like UPI, promoting financial inclusion and innovation, and providing a secure, state-backed alternative for digital payments,” he said.

Layered governance model for digital infra

Digital public infrastructure requires a layered approach to governance, according to Harsha Bhowmik, director, department of economic affairs, ministry of finance. “You have to see that there is a statutory layer, regulatory layer, operational layer, and at the end technological layer. Statutory and regulatory layers are important because it is about coordination between multiple ministries, departments, agencies, and then we also have to carve out a suitable operational model to take that infrastructure forward which is a real challenge,” he cautioned.

Satish Srivastava, SVP, software development, Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN), said, “We make sure of the user-friendly perspective of our platform. If there is data that someone has entered, we see that he does not have to enter it again. There are different departments where we fetch the data and use it seamlessly. So, from the ease of filing perspective and ease of business perspective, there is a very cautious approach that we have.”

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