Digital Public Infrastructure in India

Subject :Schemes

Concept:

Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) is a versatile open-source identity platform that facilitates access to a vast array of government and private services through the development of innovative applications and products.
The platform encompasses a range of digital identification and verification tools, civil registration capabilities, and payment features, including digital transactions and money transfers, data exchange, and information systems.
India operationalised DPIs through India Stack, which enabled its citizens to:
Be part of the formal system through digital identity (Aadhaar).
Be able to reach the national (and, increasingly, international) marketplace through a fast payment system (Unified Payments Interface or UPI).
Safely share personal data without compromising privacy through the Account Aggregator platform built on Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture (DEPA).

Role of Aadhar:

Aadhaar was the first building block of the India Stack, and it has since led to the development of other Lego blocks that have created a superstructure.
At present, more than 1,700 Union and State government schemes have Aadhaar as their crucial infrastructure for its delivery.
A new private sector-friendly Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is incentivizing Aadhaar usage to make it richer and more meaningful.
Aadhaar holders can voluntarily use their Aadhaar for private sector purposes, and private sector entities need not seek special permission for such usage.
Also, between government departments (intra- and inter-State) Aadhaar data can be shared, but with the prior informed consent of the citizen.
Banks and other regulated entities can store Aadhaar numbers as long as they protect them according to UIDAI security regulations.
These changes will lead to the next leapfrogging of the India Stack as a whole.

DigiYatra and DigiLocker:

DigiYatra and DigiLocker are examples of the kind of greenfield market innovation that can potentially be created on top of Aadhaar.
The United States CLEAR programme(an expedited airport security/airport identity verification process) costs $369 per annum for a family of four.
But, about two lakh passengers have utilised a slightly different variant, the DigiYatra in India, which is totally free of cost for the Indian traveller.
Air passenger traffic in India was estimated to be over 188 million in airports across India in the financial year 2022, out of whom over 22 million were international passengers.
DigiLocker, one of the least known DPIs, has 150 million users and six billion stored documents. This allows users to securely authenticate their documents and certificates, in order to store, verify and share digital documents.
For instance, uploading PDF documents is eliminated with simple consent on the passport application form allowing it to fetch the relevant data from DigiLocker. This has made the process easy and quick.
When DigiLocker was used in a Karnataka Police recruitment drive to verify the academic credentials of candidates, it led to the process being cut down by about six months.
An electronic KYC service is being used by the UIDAI information system to authenticate a user’s identity. It significantly lowers the cost of paper and provides instant verification. More than 13.8 billion people have undergone e-KYC since January 2023.

UPI’s impact:

Unified Payment Interface (UPI) plays a significant role by simply registering consumers on a VPA (Virtual Payment Address), to facilitate the transfer of money digitally, securely, and instantaneously from any bank account to any other bank account (individuals or merchants) without having to go through complicated online or offline procedures.
It has now crossed eight billion transactions per month and transacts a value of $180 billion a month, or about a staggering 65% of India’s GDP per annum.

Significance of DPI:

DPI enables citizens to access a range of services and information from government and private organisations from anywhere, anytime using digital devices like smartphones, laptops, etc.
DPI enables the government to deliver services more efficiently and transparently, reducing corruption and improving governance.
DPI also allows nations to retain strategic control over their digitalisation processes, ensure digital cooperation and strengthen long-term capacity.
DPI makes use of public data to support open innovation models, encouraging the development of new products and services that can benefit citizens and businesses.