India seeks to host global repository of digital public infra: MoS IT

India will volunteer to create and host a global repository of digital public infrastructure (DPI) to support other countries in building platforms similar to Aadhaar, Unified Payment Interface (UPI) and DigiLocker, said Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for electronics and IT.

The repository will include a stack of applications, which countries can use, customise or modify, according to their jurisdictions.

The minister, while briefing on the outcome of the G20 digital economy ministers’ meeting, said eight countries have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with India on this. It will help in deploying and customising digital public goods like Aadhaar, UPI, Digilocker and others. 

The countries signing MoUs for DPI include Antigua and Barbuda and Trinidad and Tobago from the Caribbean. They also include Africa’s Sierra Leone, Suriname in South America, Armenia in East Europe, and Papua New Guinea and Mauritius in Asia.

India will offer the technology behind Indian digital public goods, related skilling, and a partnership with Indian startups and the innovation ecosystem. Apart from this, India has also signed MoUs for a larger digital cooperation with Saudi Arabia and Egypt.  

The minister said that there was also a consensus that there should be an international alliance to fund countries from the Global South to accelerate their digitisation. 

“One of the aspects that have been discussed is mobilising finance for DPIs and helping countries that have lagged in the digitisation process,” Chandrasekhar said.

However, he did not provide further details on these financing measures and the source. He said there was interest from multilateral organisations, governments, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to support the expansion of DPIs.

As reported earlier, the G20 Digital Economy Working Group (DEWG) will focus on three priority areas, namely DPI, cyber security and digital skill development. The minister said the working group has reached an agreement on what constitutes digital public infrastructure. 

“For the first time, there is a global consensus on what ought to be the definition, framework, and principles of digital public infrastructure. This is an exciting conversation, which has gained momentum in the context of the G20. India is now a case study, as a nation that employed and deployed technological tools for progress and growth,” Chandrasekhar said.

India, during its presidency of G20, has showcased the open-source architecture of indigenously developed platforms like Aadhaar and UPI.

As part of global digital public goods, the Union government plans to offer the expertise and architecture of India Stack to other countries.

“Countries that have lagged increasingly see this as a way to follow India’s lead in DPI, and use it to create the same impact that India has. Through these G20 conversations, we have further understood how DPIs are a powerful mechanism for inclusion, especially for the Global South,” the minister said.