The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has lauded India’s digital journey, stating that India’s development of a “world-class digital public infrastructure” provides a lesson for other countries embarking on their own digital transformations. According to a working paper published by the IMF, India’s digital stack was guided by a building block approach and a focus on supporting innovation across the ecosystem. India’s stack’s development approach unbundles the components of the solution to a set of problems and identifies a minimal common core, providing those closer to the problem with the basic tools to create tailored solutions. India’s focus on supporting a vibrant ecosystem also implies the need for interoperability between the different digital public infrastructure (DPIs) and a competition-focused design. The IMF’s paper noted that these principles are applied to other DPIs in education and health, including the Covid-19 vaccine and distribution platform, CoWIN.
India Stack was designed with a focus on promoting competition and removing silos in order to create a more open and accessible digital ecosystem. The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a good example of this, as it was designed to sidestep existing bottlenecks and incumbent interests in the payment industry. This has helped to create a more level playing field for new players to enter the market and offer innovative solutions. India Stack was also developed with strong stakeholder engagement, which has helped to ensure that user-centric solutions are delivered that are fit for purpose. This means that the needs and preferences of end-users are taken into account at every stage of the design and development process. By doing so, India Stack has been able to create a digital ecosystem that is accessible, secure, and easy to use for all stakeholders, from individuals to businesses and government agencies.
