During a visit to Burha, a small village in Uttar Pradesh, I met Rani, a small-scale farmer selling fresh produce in the village market. She shared that until recently, she and her husband had to rely on middlemen who often took the bulk of the earnings, leaving them with minimal profit. Today, they sell directly to customers, a welcome change that has given them more control over their earnings and made them self-reliant. As I picked out some fresh vegetables, I instinctively searched my pockets for cash, only to remember my habit of paying even ₹10 through UPI apps. When I mentioned I didn’t have cash, Rani asked if I had a phone. On my nod, she pulled out a small dusty board with a QR code and said, “Online kar do” (pay online). I was surprised, yet pleased. Acceptance of digital payments even in remote corners reflects the profound financial and digital inclusion we have achieved by the 78th year of Indian independence.
The layman’s term ‘online’ for digital transactions is now part of everyday vocabulary for millions of Indians, from roadside vendors to high-profile retailers, handling transactions from ₹5 to ₹50,000. In March 2025 alone, UPI transactions amounted to ₹24.77 trillion, with more than 19.78 billion transactions in volume. The adoption of digital services has pushed India from being a laggard to a leader, building its progress on bytes rather than bricks. Just as Indian Railways became symbolic of India’s most extensive physical infrastructure network, Aadhaar laid the first tracks of India’s digital infrastructure, connecting over 1.4 billion Indians to a single, unified identity database.
“Think of it (Digital Public Infrastructure) as new cars coming onto the highway or new innovation happening, but the highway remains the same. This is the playbook; we build interoperable digital rails like highways, digital rails on top of which private innovation can thrive.”
– Dr. Pramod Varma, former Chief Aadhaar Architect, said in a media interview.
India’s digital economy has become the engine of its growth. Digital reforms have become a central priority under the NDA regime, driven by the rapid acceleration of Aadhaar enrolments since 2014 and the launch of UPI in 2016. With raging digitisation and the adoption of digital technologies among individuals and businesses, India has leapfrogged 40 years of development with Digital Public Infrastructure and made advancements in 7 years that otherwise would have taken 47 years. With advanced digital acceleration, the Indian economy is the third-largest digitalized country in terms of economy-wide digitalization. This development did not remain confined to upper layers of society but permeated small businesses, rural areas, and marginalized populations, bridging gaps that once seemed difficult to overcome.
What began as a national venture in digital initiative has now become a global reference point. At the first United Nations conference on Digital Public Infrastructure, India’s DPI journey was spotlighted as a benchmark for inclusive and sustainable growth at population-scale, especially for developing countries. A recent report on Digital Public Infrastructure and Development by the World Bank Group highlighted their ID4D (Identification for Development) and G2PX (Digitalizing Government-to-Person Payments) paradigms for sustainable growth. However, India had already championed these ideas before they received global recognition. With this, India also achieved UN SDG 16.9, which aims to provide a legal identity for all citizens by 2030.
(Source: Fins, 2018b)
Based atop Aadhaar, the India Stack- a set of open APIs (Application Programming Interface) – is a platform to structure a digital world around a ‘uniquely identifiable’ individual.
The Presence-less layer comprises Aadhaar, the 12-digit unique ID of every Indian citizen, proving “I am who I claim to be”, is linked to a centralized database that forms the foundation of the effortless authentication process, eliminating the need for the individual to be physically present or produce superfluous ID cards. Aadhaar dramatically brought down the time for KYC from 10-20 days to just a few minutes, with digital authentication methods involving OTPs and biometrics. Public services are now accessible with just a few taps on a screen instead of trips to government offices.
The Paperless layer comprises Digital Locker (Digilocker) and Digital Signature (e-sign), contributing to reducing the redundant red tape and producing a seamless data transfer procedure and consent environment, giving users due control over who can access their data. The documents in the locker assigned to the user are already signed; hence, any third party accessing them can be assured of their authenticity. With e-sign, users can digitally sign their contracts or documents securely, eliminating the need for pens and paper.
The Cashless Layer comprises the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), one of the world’s most advanced payment systems. It enabled real-time, low-cost digital transactions that anyone with a mobile phone can do. It has been a significant force in uplifting small businesses and individuals nationwide.
The Consent Layer comprises the Account Aggregator (AA) framework and the Digital Empowerment and Protection Architecture (DEPA), which gives users control over what they want to share, with whom and for how long. Consent can be withdrawn at any time by the user, and is secure and traceable by the systems.
India Stack has posited a level-playing field for government and private players alike to build innovations atop its layers, bringing technology to people’s doorsteps. Its bottom-up approach brought about a quiet revolution through interoperable digital systems that have transformed G2P interactions and everyday digital engagements.
Five years from now, by 2030, India envisions a society undivided by digital gaps, where it has championed last-mile connectivity, where no citizen is out of reach by geography, gender, literacy, or income. A migrant worker or daily wage earner can access welfare, credit, healthcare and jobs- digitally and instantly- the same way as someone from a position of privilege. The promise of a digitalized India is being engineered through systems like India Stack, which aren’t just tools but public goods that aim to scale, deliver speed and build trust within Indian citizens. Vision 2030 lays out a blueprint for development, focusing on inclusive growth, a robust digital economy, and citizen-first governance, rooted in technology, powered by data, and designed at a population scale.
One of the key ideas of the vision is to propel the ‘minimum government, maximum governance’ goals by enhancing transparency and reducing friction in the system by creating a paperless, digitized state. A key example of this postulate is the Digi Yatra application software, creating a seamless, digitized and consent-driven air travel experience. Utilizing Aadhaar for secure authentication and facial recognition, Digi Yatra allows users to explicitly authorize access to their credentials for specific, time-bound usage. It has led to a 50% reduction in boarding time and enables passengers to navigate from entry gates to security clearance in less than 10 minutes. Building and effectively scaling applications like Digi Yatra can transform service delivery, cut costs, and save time in healthcare, education, and finance sectors.
India’s digital economy is projected to grow at twice the rate of the broader economy and is expected to reach $1 trillion by 2030, contributing to nearly one-fifth or 20% of the national income. The growth will be driven by three tiers: a robust Digital Public Infrastructure foundation, widespread adoption of digital technologies and a potent innovation ecosystem for startups and emerging technologies like AI and IoT (Internet of Things). Continued investment in R&D, cybersecurity, and interoperable infrastructure is critical to sustaining this acceleration and ensuring that the benefits of the digital economy reach the last mile.
With its remarkable indigenous technologies, India has positioned itself as a global provider of digital public goods, manifesting its ambitions beyond domestic development. India’s flagship initiative, MOSIP – Modular Open Source Identity Platform – is an open-source and open-standard platform that helps governments conceive, develop and implement effective national ID systems in their countries. MOSIP has presently been adopted by 26 countries across Africa, Asia Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean. Developing nations like the Philippines, Morocco, Togo, Ethiopia and Sri Lanka have piloted MOSIP-based systems to create foundational identity programs.
India is steadily emerging as a leader in the Global South, a Digital Guru, powered by rapid economic growth and a vision for inclusive and sustainable development. Unleashing new avenues of growth, India is forging a digital-first economy, matching the pace of rapid technological growth, fostering private innovation and building tech-savvy governance models that bring people from the margins to the mainstream.
As Indiawires for progress, itis innovating for its 1.4 billion population and making replicable models for the world. By 2030, India’s progress shall not be measured in figures and GDP numbers, but by how effectively it turns digital systems into real and equitable growth opportunities.
The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to the author and do not reflect the views of BlueKraft Digital Foundation.
