When Dilshad Alam, a 23-year-old chef in Delhi, opened a bank account last year, he did so using an app on his phone to digitally verify his identity. Linking his new account to his phone number also enabled him to start using the Unified Payments Interface, or UPI, a digital payments system in India that allows users to send and receive money instantly from their phone.
Alam is one of nearly half a billion people across India who have opened a bank account since 2011 — a surge that has made India one of the fastest-growing countries in terms of financial inclusion. This is in large part thanks to something known as India Stack: A set of interoperable digital systems that together form a digital public infrastructure, or DPI, enabling online access to essential services such as identity verification, digital payments, and data sharing.
Supporters argue that the DPI model pioneered by countries such as India could help emerging economies to reduce poverty and boost economic growth — as well as offering a more collaborative, cost-effective approach to development at a time when foreign aid is shrinking.