IMF lauds India’s digital journey as ‘powerful lessons for other countries’

Kathmandu: International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its working paper has lauded India’s digital journey as ‘powerful lessons for other countries.’

In the working paper titled ‘Stacking up the Benefits: Lessons from India’s Digital Journey’, IMF has highlighted the role of foundational digital public infrastructure (DPI) in transforming economy and supporting inclusive growth.

‘India’s journey highlights lessons for other countries embarking on their own digital transformation,’ paper read, ‘India Stack’s development is guided by a foundational building blocks approach, and a focus on supporting innovation across the ecosystem.’

IMF also said that India’s journey in developing a world-class DPI can serve as powerful lessons for other countries.

‘India’s journey in developing a world-class DPI highlights powerful lessons for other countries embarking on their own digital transformation, in particular a design approach that focuses on shared building blocks and supporting innovation across the ecosystem,’ the paper read.

DPI with three layers- unique identity, complementary payments systems and data exchange which are collectively known as India Stack- enables online, paperless, cashless and privacy-respecting digital access to a variety of public and private services.

DPI’s contribution during the covid-19 pandemic was also praiseworthy as India ‘was able to quickly provide support’ to millions of poor people. Its unique identity has also  ‘helped facilitate the transfer of social safety net payments directly from the government treasury’s accounts to beneficiaries’ bank accounts, helping to reduce leakages, curb corruption and providing a tool to effectively reach households to increase coverage,’ the paper said.

As per the paper, using a digital backbone allowed India to scale its vaccine delivery quickly and overcome challenges such as large-scale internal migration.

The paper also stresses the need for interoperability between different DPIs and a competition-focused design to a vibrant ecosystem. In India, interoperability is supported through open standards so that any can utilize the functionality provided by India Stack.