UN General Assembly President Dennis Francis has said India’s trajectory exemplifies that Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) is a fundamental driver of social transformation and progress and facilitates equal opportunities if accessed in an inclusive way.

“Just as physical infrastructure is essential for economic growth, digital public infrastructure has emerged as a fundamental driver of social transformation and progress. If accessed in an inclusive way, it facilitates equal opportunities in every aspect of our lives. The trajectory of India exemplifies this,” Mr. Francis, President of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, said.

Mr. Francis was addressing the first conference at the United Nations on ‘Citizen Stack: Digital Public Infrastructure, Transformative Technology for Citizens’ organised in New York on April 25 by the Permanent Mission of India to the UN together with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

Assimilating India’s first principle of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, India Stack shared its DPI journey through the inaugural conference.

Closing the digital divide

Mr. Francis told the conference, attended by top UN leaders, diplomats, think tanks and civil society organisations, that during his visit to India in January this year, he had “the privilege to observe how the rapid expansion of DPI in India has broadened access – thereby enabling millions, who previously operated either on the fringes of the economic system or outside of it, to achieve financial independence and prosperity.”

He noted that in just seven years, India’s DPI model has achieved over 80% financial inclusion for its citizens, and now accounts for more than 60% of all digital transactions worldwide.

“This model has effectively dismantled numerous barriers – enhancing accessibility and affordability in the financial sector. Models like the Citizen Stack should be embraced and replicated across countries in the Global South – supporting and empowering people, particularly the most vulnerable in our communities; in the true spirit of leaving no one behind,” he said.

He said that while the advancements in digital connectivity must be celebrated, there is a need to acknowledge that approximately three billion people — or 37% of the world’s population — have never used the internet.

In this regard, with the ambitious Inter-Governmental process of developing a Global Digital Compact underway as part of Summit of the Future in September, he said, “We have an opportunity to close the digital divide and expand digital infrastructure for a third of the global population.”

India a ‘global leader’

UN Development Programme Administrator Achim Steiner noted that India has become a “global leader” in harnessing technology.

He said. “We need to think of DPI, a term that during (India’s) G20 Presidency…Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) and many across India have really socialised in an international context because much of what explains India’s remarkable journey is an appreciation that you need a digital public infrastructure.”

“Today, not just the fibre optic cable, you need more than that, you need a DPI. And here, we in the United Nations Development Programme, as part of our overall attempt to learn from across the globe are very much aligned with first of all embracing this concept of digital public infrastructure,” he said.

“I think your choice of Citizen Stack also signals something else – for quite a while in the digital universe, the frontier of many of the services, we were called users. But in today’s world, we realise that digital is transforming every aspect of our lives. Therefore, we are not just users. We are digital citizens,” Mr. Steiner said.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s Envoy on Technology Amandeep Singh Gill, in his virtual address, thanked India for bringing the world to a new consensus on DPIs through the adoption of the G20 DPI framework. “We have now an opportunity at the Summit of the Future, through the Global Digital Compact, to take that consensus to the next level,” Mr. Gill said.

He underlined the importance of gatherings like the Citizen Stack conference in bringing together experience from leaders of DPI from India, Bangladesh, Rwanda, Estonian, Brazil, Jamaica and many other countries around the world who are successfully leveraging DPI to transform the society and turbocharge their economies.

A concept note on the event said that the India Stack (India’s Citizen Stack) is a ‘sum-of-parts’ technology platform that despite being privately provisioned is publicly owned infrastructure and delivers a gamut of citizen services encompassing digital identity, payments and open networks that enable other innovations using this as a national digital spine.

Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) is set up in India as a Public-Private Policy partnership that has become a benchmark for multiple nations, corporations & start-ups across the world, the concept note said.

India Stack has created a nation of 1.4 billion digitally and financially included citizens, an increase of bank penetration from 7 per cent to 80 per cent in just 7 years (which typically takes 47 years to achieve) leading to over 60% of all digital transactions globally.

The event is a continuum to India’s G20 Presidency in 2023 and will showcase notable instances from the Philippines & Ethiopia who, while having traversed a different path, have essentially arrived at the same national outcome, the note said.

India’s Finance Minister announced a new scheme to develop deep tech for defence purposes while presenting the Interim Budget for 2024-25.
| Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

For tech-savvy youth, a corpus of ₹1 lakh crore will be established with 50-year interest free loans for providing long term financing or refinancing with long tenures and low or nil interest rates, announced Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Interim Budget for 2024-25.

“This will encourage the private sector to scale up research and innovation significantly in the sunrise domains,” she added.

The Finance Minister also said that a new scheme will be launched to develop deep tech for defence purposes.

On electric vehicles, she informed Parliament that government will expand and strengthen the sector through greater manufacturing and charging infrastructure.

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The government has allocated ₹1,500 crore for setting up semiconductor fabs in India under the Modified Scheme, she said.

Counting the achievements of Union Government, the FM said that the Skill India Mission has trained 1.4 crore youth, upskilled and reskilled 54 lakh youth. She added that 3,000 new Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) were opened.

Nirmala Sitharaman informed that in the last ten years 7 Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), 16 Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIIT), 7 Indian Institutes of Management (IIM), 15 All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and 390 Universities have been set up in the country.

She briefed that ₹34 lakh crore worth of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) has been achieved in the last decade, and it saved ₹2.7 lakh crore of government as a result.

More than 1360 Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees (mandis) have been digitised, doing a business of 3 lakh crore, she told.

FM informed the house that Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) has been instrumental in formalisation of the economy.

“Technological advancements are transforming lives and businesses, creating new economic opportunities,” she said.

The G20 Declaration has welcomed the ‘G20 Framework for Systems of Digital Public Infrastructure’, recognising the role of DPI in the delivery of services at a societal scale, and underlined the commitment to work together to promote cooperation on international governance for Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar described the Declaration as a “tremendous achievement”.

“India’s #G20 Presidency is going to leave an indelible impression on the world order as we move forward,” Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for IT and Electronics, said in a post on X.

The G20 leaders on Saturday stressed promoting international cooperation and further discussions on international governance for AI and called for a safe, secure, trusted, accountable and inclusive digital public infrastructure (DPI) for service delivery and innovation.

Recognising the role of DPI in the delivery of services, the G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration backed the ‘G20 Framework for Systems of Digital Public Infrastructure’, a voluntary and suggested framework for the development, deployment and governance of DPI.

The G20 Declaration asserted that safe, secure, trusted, accountable and inclusive DPI, respectful of human rights, personal data, privacy and intellectual property rights can foster resilience and enable service delivery and innovation.

The New Delhi Declaration is seen as a significant victory for India’s G20 presidency. Its adoption highlighted that members have successfully clinched a consensus amid increasing tensions and divergent views over the Ukraine conflict. The G20 Declaration draws attention to building safety, security, resilience, and trust in the digital economy.

“To this end…we welcome the G20 Framework for Systems of Digital Public Infrastructure, a voluntary and suggested framework for the development, deployment and governance of DPI,” it said.

The declaration talks of building safety, security, resilience and trust in the Digital Economy, fostering digital ecosystems, and harnessing AI responsibly for ‘Good and for All’.

“To unlock the full potential of AI, equitably share its benefits and mitigate risks, we will work together to promote international cooperation and further discussions on international governance for AI,” it said.

The Declaration also welcomed India’s plan to build and maintain a Global Digital Public Infrastructure Repository (GDPIR), a virtual repository of DPI, voluntarily shared by G20 members and beyond.

Further, it takes note of the Indian Presidency’s proposal of the One Future Alliance (OFA), a voluntary initiative aimed at building capacity and providing technical assistance and adequate funding support for implementing DPI in LMICs (low, and middle-income countries).

“In our voluntary efforts to make digital public infrastructure interoperable, we recognise the importance of data free flow with trust and cross-border data flows while respecting applicable legal frameworks. We also reaffirm the role of Data for Development,” it said.

On technological transformation and digital public infrastructure, the declaration noted that technology can enable rapid transformations for bridging the existing digital divides and accelerating progress for inclusive and sustainable development.   “Digital public infrastructure (DPI), as an evolving concept and as a set of shared digital systems, built and leveraged by both the public and private sectors, based on secure and resilient infrastructure, and can be built on open standards and specifications, as well as opensource software can enable the delivery of services at societal-scale,” it said.

Put simply, DPI refers to blocks or platforms, such as digital identification, payment infrastructure and data exchange solutions that help countries deliver essential services to their people, empowering citizens and improving lives by enabling digital inclusion. A case in point is the India Stack — the identity system Aadhaar, payment platform UPI and others, all of which have been receiving ringing praises globally.

DPIs are interoperable, open, and inclusive systems supported by technology and provide essential, society-wide, public and private services that play a critical role in accelerating this digital transformation in an inclusive manner.

The Declaration has also emphasised building safety, security, resilience and trust in the digital economy.

An enabling, inclusive, open, fair, non-discriminatory and secure digital economy is increasingly important for all countries and stakeholders while respecting applicable legal frameworks.

“We will share our approaches and good practices to build a safe, secure and resilient digital economy. To this extent, we…welcome the non-binding G20 High-level Principles to Support Businesses in Building Safety, Security, Resilience, and Trust in the Digital Economy…welcome the G20 Toolkit on Cyber Education and Cyber Awareness of Children and Youth,” it said.

It reaffirmed commitment to G20 AI Principles (2019) and endeavour to share information on approaches to using AI to support solutions in the digital economy.

“We…Will pursue a pro-innovation regulatory/governance approach that maximizes the benefits and takes into account the risks associated with the use of AI,” it said.

It also pledged to “promote responsible AI for achieving SDGs”.

On harnessing AI responsibly for Good and for All, the Declaration said the rapid progress of AI promises prosperity and expansion of the global digital economy.

“It is our endeavour to leverage AI for the public good by solving challenges in a responsible, inclusive and human-centric manner while protecting people’s rights and safety.

“To ensure responsible AI development, deployment and use, the protection of human rights, transparency and explainability, fairness, accountability, regulation, safety, appropriate human oversight, ethics, biases, privacy, and data protection must be addressed,” it said.

The Declaration resolved to deploy all available digital tools and technologies and spare no effort in fostering safe and resilient digital ecosystems, and ensuring that every citizen on the planet is financially included.

“To support this, we commit to promote responsible, sustainable and inclusive use of digital technology by farmers and an ecosystem of Agri-Tech start-ups and MSMEs…Welcome the establishment of the Global Initiative on Digital Health (GIDH) within a WHO-managed framework to build a comprehensive digital health ecosystem in compliance with respective data protection regulations,” it said.

It also committed to leveraging digital technologies for the protection and promotion of culture and cultural heritage and adopting digital frameworks for the development of cultural and creative sectors and industries. 

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