BENGALURU: Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) can provide solutions to the challenges of modern commerce, said the report of India's G20 Task Force on DPI released on Monday.
"Goods and services are offered online through massive vertically integrated platforms that have resulted in consolidation of buyers and sellers... By breaking the commercial transaction into its constituent elements — inventory search, order booking, fulfilment and post-fulfilment resolution — DPI solutions can offer more equitable alternatives," the report said.
Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is a good example of an Open Network DPI. It is an interoperable, inclusive and open standard based e-commerce marketplace that enables effortless product visibility and efficient sale transactions between the buyer and seller applications, the report added.
DPIs are digital infrastructures that interact with government and private systems to offer new ways in which services can be provided for the public benefit.
Releasing the report, Amitabh Kant, G20 Sherpa of India said, “India did an incredible pole vault in 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% share."
Co-Chair of Task Force, Nandan Nilekani said, "Now, around 1.3 billion Indians possess this digital ID and on average 10 million eKYC per day is being facilitated through Aadhar. Meanwhile in payment, UPI facilitates 13 billion transactions monthly, serving about 350 million individuals and 50 million merchants and DPI enabled direct transfer has saved the Government $41 billion across Central Government Schemes."
"Therefore, it’s no longer a choice or a luxury, DPI is essential to get to where we want," he added.
The report also highlights impacts of DPI in other countries. It added that DPI allows countries to leapfrog and accelerate development at scale, with a high multiplier on economic growth.
Various countries around the world have deployed DPIs to provide service delivery across various sectors. These include verifiable digital identity systems such as Colombia's Cédula Digital, Nigeria's National ID or Bank Verification Numbers; Bangladesh National ID, the Philippines' PhilSys, and Singapore's Singpass.