India's Digital Public Infrastructure: How Businesses Can Build on It

India has built a remarkable set of digital public infrastructure (DPI): open, interoperable platforms for identity, payments, documents and data sharing. For businesses, these are building blocks that dramatically reduce the cost and time of launching digital products.

The key building blocks

• Aadhaar-based authentication and e-KYC for identity verification, within the regulated use cases
• UPI for instant, low-cost payments and mandates for recurring payments
• DigiLocker for issuing and verifying official documents digitally
• Account Aggregators for consented sharing of financial data
• ONDC for open, interoperable digital commerce
• ABDM (Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission) for digital health IDs and records exchange

What businesses can build

• Lending: digital onboarding, cash-flow underwriting and instant disbursal
• Insurance: faster onboarding and claims with verified documents
• Healthcare: connected records, telemedicine and digital prescriptions
• Commerce: sellers reaching buyers across multiple apps through ONDC
• HR and education: verified certificates and credentials

Why it matters

Tasks that once needed branches, paperwork and days of processing can now be done digitally in minutes, at very low cost. This is why Indian fintech, healthtech and commerce innovation moves so quickly.

Building responsibly

• Use DPI only through licensed or authorised channels
• Follow consent requirements and data minimisation under the DPDP framework
• Secure identifiers and documents carefully
• Design inclusive journeys in local languages for first-time digital users

Beyond India

Other countries are adopting similar approaches, and some Indian platforms are being linked internationally, particularly for payments.

See our fintech and healthcare development services.