India’s Digital Public Infrastructure Empowers 97% Of Population

Facilitates $100 Billion In Value Addition To Startup Ecosystem

Bengaluru

A recent report by Redseer Strategy Consultants, in collaboration with Infosys Chairman Nandan Nilekani, highlights the significant impact of India's Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) landscape. Currently, the DPI landscape has provided 97% of the population with a digital ID, enabled Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to 900 million beneficiaries, and granted banking access to 40% of the 1.2 billion population. India's DPI has expanded beyond Aadhaar and Unified Payments Interface (UPI), influencing various sectors such as e-commerce, gaming, fintech, banking, and MSMEs. The report emphasizes that DPIs have not only affected governance but also made a substantial impact on the private sector, particularly startups. It estimates that DPIs have contributed over $100 billion in value addition across multiple sectors of the Indian Internet economy. The DPI landscape is evolving beyond the JAM trinity (Jan Dhan, Aadhar, Mobile), incorporating properties like Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA), DigiLocker 2.0, Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), Account Aggregator (AA), Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing (Diksha), among others. The availability of zero Merchant Discount Rates (MDR) has boosted the popularity of UPI in e-commerce, with mobility accounting for 65% of e-commerce payments, followed by foodtech at 50%, and e-tailing at 35%. Emerging platforms like ONDC are gaining popularity in the MSME space due to their open architecture and affordability. The report suggests that ONDC itself could generate a Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) ranging from $250-300 billion by 2030. The evolving DPI landscape has also boosted gaming monetization by 20-25%, contributing $27 billion in transaction value to the online gaming industry.