• UGI USER
  • Aug 01, 2023
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Pathways for Digital inclusion.

Recent Context: Unlocking the benefits of digital public goods requires catering to diverse needs, situations and experiences.

The remarkable transformation of India’s digital landscape has been made possible by pioneering digital public infrastructure (DPI) experiments. Functionally mimicking physical infrastructures, these DPIs are digital pathways that enable a seamless provision of essential services, benefiting society. The Indian DPI ecosystem envisioned as “India Stack” has been pivotal in unlocking the power of identity, payments, and data sharing to drive economic growth and foster a more inclusive digital economy.

Digital Inclusion: Digital inclusion describes the effort to ensure that every individual and community has access to Information Communication Technology (ICT), along with the skills to make use of it.

India’s success in creating DPI’s:

  • India has so far had a successful run in creating DPIs that have seen wide adoption. The World Bank estimates that Aadhaar has facilitated financial inclusion. The Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile trinity has played a pivotal role in transparent direct benefit transfers of welfare subsidies to bank accounts of the underserved. On the payments front, Unified Payments Interface — the interoperable electronic payment system — has empowered us to conveniently transfer money from one bank account to another bank account digitally and in real-time.

Bridging the Gaps:

  • From promoting financial as well as digital inclusion of citizens belonging to less privileged socio-economic backgrounds and empowering small businesses to improve access to healthcare, Indian DPIs hold the promise to bridge the wealth gaps and build an efficient and resilient digital economy that supports citizens and organizations.
  • The next decade of India’s DPI journey will witness sector-specific DPIs such as account aggregators, Open Network for Digital Commerce, Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission and Agri-stack.
  • To unlock the enormous benefits and efficiencies of DPIs, their adoption and acceptance at the population scale are paramount, requiring a comprehensive approach to cater to diverse needs, situations, and experiences.

Opportunity at G-20:

  • As India leads the conversation on DPIs and digital transformation at the G20, it is an opportune moment to steer the wheel towards inclusive DPIs, both globally and locally.

Reflecting on past experiences and developments occurring internationally, we can draw several key lessons to inform our path forward-

    • First, the importance of placing users at the forefront. We must prioritize user-centric design to reduce the risks arising from the use of technology and prevent the exacerbation of extant inequalities amongst rural and urban populations, genders or economic groups.
    • Second, inclusion should be a key policy objective for DPI participants, embedded within the regulatory framework. Several jurisdictions, including Nigeria, the UK and Brazil, have embraced open banking with the aim of financial inclusion within the regulatory framework itself.
    • Third, to truly drive inclusivity, DPI participants must identify the underserved target segments and proactively develop use cases tailored to their needs.
    • Lastly, to meaningfully adopt any DPI at the population scale, it is necessary to build engagement with the DPI.

Way forward:

Exploring the potential of leveraging these trusted human points of contact to mitigate further exclusion risks can be immensely valuable for DPIs in the financial sector as they move forward.