From UPI to ONDC: How India’s Digital Public Infrastructure Is Inspiring the World
As India commemorates its Independence Day, it’s fitting to reflect on the remarkable strides the nation has made beyond conventional infrastructure—into the digital realm. Over the past decade, India has built a robust Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI)—platforms that are open, interoperable, and designed to serve citizens, enterprises, and government alike. DPI is central to India’s transformation into a cashless, paperless, and presence-less society. From UPI, the payment game-changer, to ONDC disrupting e-commerce, and the Account Aggregator enabling consent-based data sharing—these innovations are setting global benchmarks and even inspiring other countries. Let’s explore how.
What Is Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI)?
Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) refers to digital systems and platforms that enable service delivery, facilitate secure data exchange, and support governance, business, and public services. DPI is designed to be scalable, interoperable, and accessible across sectors—allowing both public and private entities to build applications on top of a shared foundation.
India’s DPI ecosystem includes:
Aadhaar: digital identity system
UPI: real-time payments interface
India Stack: open APIs for presence-less, paperless, and cashless services
ONDC: open e-commerce network
Account Aggregator: consent-based financial data sharing
These combine to form the backbone of India’s digital economy.
UPI: Revolutionizing Payments
A Simple Explanation
Launched in April 2016 by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), UPI (Unified Payments Interface) is a system that enables instant, real-time inter-bank transfers using a mobile device and a unique UPI ID—no need to remember account details. It runs on top of IMPS and is regulated by the RBI.
Scale and Impact
The numbers behind UPI’s growth are staggering:
In FY 2024–25, UPI handled 185.8 billion transactions, with a value of ₹261 lakh crore—up from ₹200 lakh crore in FY 2023–24—and accounted for 83.7 % of all digital transactions in India.
In June 2025, UPI processed a record 18.39 billion transactions, with a total value of ₹24 lakh crore, serving 491 million users and 65 million merchants, integrated across 675 banks.
UPI now processes more than 640 million transactions per day—surpassing Visa globally in daily transaction volume.
At 48.5 % of global real-time payment volume, India now leads the world in instant payments.
Inclusive Growth & MSMEs
UPI has fueled digital inclusion in everyday life. In July 2025, groceries and supermarkets saw 3.03 billion transactions worth ₹64,882 crore via UPI. Larger-value transactions dominated by debt collection also used UPI extensively.
Furthermore, over 73 % of MSMEs in semi-urban and rural India reported business growth thanks to digital tools, led by smartphones and UPI.
Global Recognition and Expansion
IMF and other institutions recognize UPI as the number one global player in faster payments.
This has inspired developed economies such as the UK to consider similar models for financial modernization.
UPI is also expanding internationally. Indian UPI QR payments are accepted in countries such as Bhutan, France, Mauritius, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and the UAE—with India aiming to extend to 20 nations by 2028–29.
ONDC: Democratizing E-Commerce
What Is ONDC?
ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) is a government-led initiative launched by DPIIT to create an open, interoperable network for e-commerce—much like UPI for payments. It decouples elements like inventory, order placement, fulfillment, and delivery, enabling platforms to interoperate via a common protocol. It’s run through a Section 8 non-profit company, incorporated in December 2021.
Adoption and Reach
Over three years since its launch in April 2022, ONDC has crossed 15 million monthly transactions, spanned 600+ cities, onboarded 775,000+ sellers, and recorded 14.4 million orders in a single month (November).
By June 2024, ONDC was nearing 1 crore (10 million) transactions in a single month—a UPI-level moment in digital commerce.
Impact on Small Businesses
ONDC is especially impactful for small, local merchants who were disadvantaged by dominant e-commerce platforms. It enables such players to list and sell across multiple buyer apps, empowering more equitable market access.
Lessons on DPI Orchestration
ONDC’s rollout highlights the importance of aligning technical design with governance and incentives. While it’s growing, adoption remains uneven and localized to areas like food and mobility. Sustaining network effects requires consistent quality, user incentives, and regulatory orchestration.
Account Aggregator & Data Consent Frameworks
India’s Account Aggregator (AA) framework is part of the broader Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture (DEPA) — enabling consent-based sharing of financial data across banks, fintechs, and entities.
By 2024, 81 financial institutions were onboarded—but usage remains low due to lack of consumer awareness and visible applications. AA needs integration into services like loan underwriting, insurance, and personal finance tools to gain traction.
India Stack: The Foundation of DPI
India Stack is a set of open APIs (presence-less, paperless, cashless, and consent-based) that underpins DPI across sectors. It allows governments, businesses, and developers to deliver digital services without barriers.
Broader DPI Ecosystem: Governance and Urban Services
Beyond payments and commerce, DPI helps governance and service delivery. The DIGIT platform enables municipal functions—like property tax collection, building permissions, grievance redressal—across 3,500+ urban local bodies and serving 150 million people.
Similarly, DIKSHA, a federated education platform supporting 200 million students and 7 million teachers, delivered 5.8 billion learning sessions in multiple languages—crucial during the pandemic.
These initiatives underscore that DPI succeeds when paired with strong institutional capacity, user incentives, and local adaptation.
Global Inspiration and Significance
India’s DPI journey is being noticed and studied globally:
1. Financial inclusion:
UPI accounts for nearly half of all global real-time payments—ensuring payments are fast, accessible, and secure.
2. Model for governance
With open APIs and protocol-based networks like UPI and ONDC, other nations are looking at India’s “tech stack” as a way to rethink public infrastructure.
3. Soft power through technology
India’s DPI—particularly UPI—has emerged as a powerful symbol of digital diplomacy and innovation.
4. Inclusive economic growth
By enabling MSMEs, informal merchants, and rural users to join the digital ecosystem, DPI is broadening the base of economic participation.
Final Words: A Digital Republic’s Future
India’s Digital Public Infrastructure—from UPI’s ubiquitous payments, ONDC’s open commerce network, the Account Aggregator’s promise of data empowerment, to India Stack’s foundational APIs—paints the picture of a digitally sovereign, inclusive nation. It’s a space where the state, private sector, and millions of citizens co-create value every day.
This Independence Day, as India looks to future horizons—like digital IDs, e-governance, and beyond—its DPI story offers a powerful lesson: when digital systems are designed to be open, interoperable, and citizen-centric, they become lasting assets that not just transform society—but inspire the world. You can visit the official website of ONDC: http://ondc.org/
You may also like to read: https://khabarkhabri.com/vehicle-scrappage-policy-3024/