India Promotes Global DPI Adoption for Sustainable Growth | G20 Report

New Delhi, Jul 15 (PTI) India has pitched for global adoption of Digital Public Infrastructure to promote productivity and achieve inclusive and sustainable growth, a G20 Task Force's report prepared by India said.

India's leadership on Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) has been acknowledged globally and in the G20 India Presidency in particular, according to the final 'Report of India's G20 Task Force on DPI released on Monday.

"Given that DPI has been recognised as a tool for boosting nations' productivity and achieving strong, inclusive and sustainable growth, the time is ripe to initiate discussions to co-create a path toward promoting global adoption of DPI to accelerate countries' socio-economic growth and development," it said.

This should include leveraging the expertise of countries experienced in DPI to assist others in developing their digital public infrastructure, the report of Task Force co-chaired by Amitabh Kant, G20 Sherpa of India, and Nandan Nilekani, co-founder and Chairman of Infosys and the Founding Chairman of UIDAI.

At the same time, the report said, India and other countries with advanced DPI should also focus on building on the existing DPI, to continue driving inclusion and progress domestically towards more ambitious outcomes.

The work of this task force led to the acceptance of the definition and framework of the DPI during India's G20 Presidency and will be taken forward for implementation during the Brazilian and South African presidencies.

The report also highlighted the need to identify an existing body of global standards with the scope of multinational presence, to foster and harness the DPI ecosystem across various regions and countries, especially Global South countries.

Many countries are considering how to develop their national digital infrastructure to accelerate economic progress through drastic improvement in provisioning public services, and foster trust between people and institutions by improving transparency and reducing distance, it said.

The report will play a key role in defining the future course of the DPI approach and actions for implementation around the globe, particularly in the Global South.

On the release of the report, the G20 Sherpa of India said, "India did an incredible pole vault in DPI. We achieved in nine years what would have taken 50 years without DPI. Today in India, UPI is used at all levels from street vendors to large shopping malls, with the highest percentage of digital transactions globally, accounting for nearly 46 per cent share.

All these proved to be building blocks for India to steer through the COVID-19 pandemic, be it transferring USD 4.5 billion into the bank accounts of 160 million beneficiaries or facilitating distribution of 2.5 million vaccinations in two years with digital vaccine certificates on mobiles, he said.

"We are far advanced in terms of digitisation and I am confident, this report will be the guiding North Star for the world to follow," he added.

According to the report, DPI is an approach designed to solve multi-faceted complex societal problems that ultimately require both public and private participation and innovation.

It allows nations to fast-track their economic development in an inclusive and competitive manner, leveraging cutting-edge technology, good governance and markets to drive outcomes such as health and financial inclusion, human development, access to jobs and employment, and improved public services, it said.

Looking ahead, it said, "As we have seen, it will continue to be useful to deal with the complex and pressing challenges like achieving sustainable growth, financial inclusion, reducing cost of payments, harnessing data for development.”

Further, with the appropriate application of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), the impact of DPI can easily be amplified further, the report said, adding that it is also important to continuously focus on building new DPI and increasing adoption by incorporating feedback and encouraging innovation as and when possible.