The success of some of the government’s popular DPI programmes like CoWin, UPI, Digilocker and Diksha (national digital infrastructure for teachers) has prompted New Delhi to seek its own rating and testing mechanism for DPIs and DPGs, the people mentioned above said.

At present, an agency called the Digital Public Goods Alliance is the only multilateral organization that provides guidance, and benchmarks, rates, and judges DPIs. The UN-endorsed initiative facilitates the deployment and discovery of open-source technologies. The government’s plan to form a certification, testing and registration process for DPIs and DPGs will not only allow India to cater to local DPIs and DPGs but also for such platforms developed elsewhere, said the first person mentioned above, who didn’t want to be named.

As things stand, DPIs and DPGs developed by India have been deployed in other countries too. For instance, CoWin (for tracking covid-19 vaccination) has been deployed in Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Jamaica.

The export of payment platform UPI has also grown significantly, with the international arm of NPCI partnering with countries such as the UK, the UAE, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Bhutan and Nepal.

The move will help India export some of its DPIs and DPGs to other countries with relative ease, the second person said, who too requested anonymity.

UPI has over 350 banks on its network with over 260 million unique users, while CoWin has more than 1.1 billion registered users. More than 500 million learning sessions have been conducted using the Diksha app, which was a key tool for teachers to impart education during the pandemic-induced lockdown period.

All these digital services are built on the strong foundation of Aadhar, one of the world’s largest and most sophisticated digital identity platforms.

The recent decision by Shanghai Cooperation Organization member- states to adopt India’s proposal for developing digital public infrastructure is a significant recognition of India’s efforts to promote inclusive digital growth at a global scale.

There is also a proposal by the Indian government for creating a financing facility that would support low- and middle- income countries to implement digital public infrastructure, the second person added.

Broadly the Indian government’s digital infrastructure is known as the Indian stack, which is a collection of digital platforms such as Aadhaar, Digital Locker, DigiYatra, UPI, and other platforms that have been developed through collaboration between government, private companies, volunteers, startups and academic institutions. The goal of DPI is to provide a seamless and efficient way for citizens to access government services and promote inclusive development.

“Indian DPIs and DPGs have a cost advantage over similar products from the developed world. These can thus be cost-effectively integrated into the systems of emerging and developed economies alike,” the first person mentioned above said. According to the government, several nations have shown an interest in India Stack.

EY estimates the annual DPG market will reach $100 billion by 2030, adding this creates a “sizable and exciting” market for many players to participate in. The ministry of electronics and information technology and the finance ministry didn’t respond to queries.

Updated: 13 Aug 2023, 10:11 PM IST