India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI)

What is Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI)

• Digital Public Infrastructure refers to foundational digital systems enabling secure interaction between citizens, businesses and government.
  
• It supports:
  
  • Identity verification
    
  • Digital payments
    
  • Secure data exchange
    
• DPI acts as digital rails for governance, welfare delivery and economic activity.
  

Key Features of India’s DPI Model

• Population-scale digital architecture covering over 1.4 billion people.
  
• Built on principles of:
  
  • Openness
    
  • Interoperability
    
  • Inclusiveness
    
  • Public good approach
    
• Integrates identity, payments and data exchange platforms.

Foundations of India’s DPI – JAM Trinity

The base layer of India’s digital ecosystem is the JAM Trinity:

(a) Jan Dhan Accounts

• Financial inclusion initiative launched in 2014.
  
• Accounts increased from 14.72 crore (2015) → 57.71 crore (2026).
  
• Deposits increased to ₹2.94 lakh crore.
  
• 39.98 crore RuPay cards issued.
  

(b) Aadhaar

• Biometric digital identity platform.
  
• Over 144 crore Aadhaar numbers issued (2026).
  
• 2707+ crore authentication transactions in 2024–25.
  

(c) Mobile Connectivity

• 85.5% households have smartphones.
  
• 125.87 crore wireless subscribers (Dec 2025).
  
• 5G available in 99.9% districts.
  

➡ Together these connect citizens to the state and enable Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT). 

Major Components of India Stack (DPI Ecosystem)

Digital Payments

• UPI (Unified Payments Interface)
  
• 21.7 billion transactions in January 2026 worth ₹28.33 lakh crore.
  
• Accounts for 49% of global real-time payment volume.
  

Financial Governance

• Public Financial Management System (PFMS)
  
• Enables monitoring of government funds.
  
• ₹4.31 lakh crore savings (2015–2024) through DBT reforms.
  

Digital Commerce

• Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC)
  
• 1.16 lakh+ sellers across 630+ cities.
  

Health

• CoWIN platform
  
• Managed 220+ crore vaccine doses during COVID-19 vaccination.
  

Governance

• e-Office for paperless administration.
  
• API Setu platform for sharing government APIs (8000+ APIs).
  

Infrastructure Planning

• PM GatiShakti Digital Platform
  
• 352 infrastructure projects evaluated worth ₹16.10 lakh crore.

India’s DPI Diplomacy (Global Role)

India is promoting DPI globally through:

International Cooperation: MoUs with 24 countries to share India Stack and DPI solutions. 

Cross-Border Digital Payments: UPI operational in 8 countries, including: UAE, Singapore, Bhutan, Nepal, France, Mauritius.

Global Initiatives

• India Stack Global platform for DPI collaboration.
  
• Global DPI Repository launched during G20 Presidency 2023.

Open Digital Public Goods

India shares digital platforms globally:

• CoWIN offered as open-source software to other countries.
  
• MOSIP (Modular Open-Source Identity Platform) helps nations build digital identity systems.
  

Significance of India’s DPI Model

• Enhances financial inclusion.
  
• Enables efficient welfare delivery.
  
• Reduces leakages and corruption.
  
• Strengthens state capacity and governance.
  
• Promotes digital economic growth.
  

Positions India as a global leader in digital governance.

Source: PIB