The need of the hour is to identify simple, scalable and sustainable solutions that can transform our societies and economies, according to Ajay Seth, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, and Ministry of Finance. In this connection, one of the most path-breaking developments for India has been the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) which is inherently scalable, interoperable, innovation-friendly, and inclusive, Seth said.

He was speaking at the Knowledge and Experience Exchange Programme for the emerging economies of the global south at the 2nd G20 global partnership for financial inclusion meeting’s pre-event on Global South Peer Exchange on Sunday.

“It has completely transformed our government to people, people to people and people to business interactions and provided us with enormous opportunities to leapfrog our development process, drive innovation and inclusion at scale and provide the best in the class services to the last mile,’’ he added.

Economical solution

DPI has effectively been the most economical solution for our government and has even enabled savings. DPI-style systems for identity, payments, or data sharing tend to cost much less than ‘conventional’ systems for these functions, the official added.

Elaborating further, he said a bank branch in India was powered by the foundational DPI of eKYC, eSign for contracts, digital payments, and financial data sharing for loan applications and is in everyone’s phone.

Sustainable future

While saying that people are the key for building resilience of our economies, the secretary said, “One of the most significant achievements of our DPI approach was experienced during the pandemic. In India, DPI-enabled Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT) emerged as a boon in providing succour and relief to millions of citizens whose livelihood was impacted.’’

India had always taken the lead in bringing the emerging market perspective to global forums, but we also need to pull each other up on our journey to a sustainable future, he added.

“India stands ready to share its technical capabilities and knowledge resources for empowering the people of the global south,’’ Seth said.

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