Digital Public Infrastructure

India’s digital public infrastructure has transformed daily life, with UPI processing billions of transactions monthly. However, global innovations, like mPESA in Kenya and DCash in the Eastern Caribbean, highlight the worldwide growth of DPI. At a recent knowledge-sharing event, global participants recognized India’s leadership in DPI and sought guidance on its design and governance. India’s experience positions it to guide other nations in developing robust digital ecosystems.

New technologies, like AI, provoke existential fears in various professions - from writers to musicians and artists. While AI threatens to replace human skills, including intellectual ones, these technologies will also create new opportunities and skill sets. It is premature to worry about human obsolescence.

Digi Yatra, India’s new biometric air travel system, adequately addresses privacy concerns. It is designed to keep personal data on the user’s device and purge data from airport systems 24 hours post-flight. Despite my initial skepticism, the system is efficient and privacy-conscious.

There are concerns over India’s digital public infrastructure and the role of self-regulatory organizations like the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). In particular that these entities, lacking oversight, could become “Alt Big Tech,” potentially harming users and stifling innovation. While these organizations are privately operated, function under regulatory supervision and could represent a new model for governing modern techno-legal ecosystems.

A reflection on the tech policy developments in India during 2022. While my initial predictions about data protection laws and tech sector reforms didn’t unfold as expected, there have been positive strides in India’s digital public infrastructure, like the UPI payment system and Account Aggregator ecosystem. India’s upcoming G20 presidency could further spotlight its techno-legal approach to regulation.

As India prepares for its G20 presidency, the focus on its Digital Public Infrastructure gains momentum. India’s DPI, built on open, interoperable principles, offers a new approach to data governance that benefits both developing and developed economies. It aims for equitable data use, empowering individuals and enabling market innovation.

Larry Fink, Chairman of BlackRock has based on the Western response to Russia and the rapid termination of business with the country, declared that globalization is over. These events highlight the existing global interdependencies and vulnerabilities, prompting calls for reevaluation and redesign of global financial infrastructure. And ultimately a shift towards self-reliance.

Francis Fukuyama coined the term “vetocracy” to describe a gridlocked decision-making system where individuals can prevent policy implementation through vetoes. But while the physical world may suffer from excessive vetocracy, the digital sphere often leans towards autocracy. We need a balance between these two extremes and that is even more important in the context of India’s digital infrastructure. Vetocratic processes can be used to protect core principles, while maintaining flexibility to foster innovation.

The design of digital data sharing infrastructure must be federated. Where there is a need for data availability beyond the duration that data fiduciaries will retain it we need to build data storage alternatives that data principals can use. We should resist the temptation of getting the government to build these data stores as a public good because the role of the government is to govern - and it should not get into the business of data storage and data management. Instead we should take a market approach and encourage private data storage providers to offer federated, inter-operable solutions.

The reason why email is the most widely used messaging protocol is because it uses an open interoperable protocol that allows messages to be exchanged freely regardless of the underlying operating system. If we are to take advantage of the benefits of data we need to enable open interoperable protocols that will break down the silos of our digital infrastructure.