India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (UPI) certainly deserves the aphorism ‘neighbour's envy, owner's pride.’ Very few countries, let alone the developed ones, can claim similar digital stacks working at such a scale and robustness. An Indian who is used to going about the day without a wallet or cards suddenly finds herself stupefied abroad, just to acknowledge how much UPI (Unified Payments Interface) has become a part of life.
Of the several public utilities, the UPI, FASTag and DigiYatra are nothing short of magic, considering the hardship we all encountered at toll booths, airports and point-of-sale terminals just a few years ago. The automatic boom barriers, the contactless entry to the airports, and instant money transfer to a distant relative make you feel privileged in a country which isn’t exactly the poster boy of innovation. How and why do these ideas work and are there some instructions to replicate their success in the corporate milieu? Let us delve deeper.
With over 70 crore daily transactions, UPI accounts for 85 percent of all digital payments in India. A decade ago, the phenomenon was non-existent. Close to a crore daily transactions take place on FASTag, amounting to over Rs 64,000 crore in annual collections. With around 24 Indian airports supporting DigiYatra, this authentication technology has 1.4 crore active users, and 30,000 daily downloads. Such numbers are unheard of elsewhere, notwithstanding that India’s literacy rate hovers at around 80 per cent, has 22 major languages and another 200 dialects.
Achieving scale, accuracy and reliability, after all we are talking of national security and somebody’s hard earned money, is nontrivial. Bringing healthcare, banking, insurance, investment, education, employment, social security, and direct benefit transfers, into the fold is already underway, and all of this without any serious disruption to the juggernaut called the Indian Economy. Indian government’s business as usual, could well be a private company’s dream, or worst still, a nightmare.
Replicating India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) in the private milieu hinges on three core insights: digital + human; incentives + punishments; and global + local. India has taken a pragmatic, hybrid approach towards digitalisation. Whether it be the enrolment of citizens in the Aadhar database, or issuing the Covid vaccination certificate, our agencies adopted a digital + human attitude. No where was technology left solely in charge of the proceedings, or a human going about without a device. Considering the sheer diversity of our diaspora and varied levels of digital savviness, a humane approach to technological adoption offers the best mix of human empathy and technological scale. That’s why you see CISF personnel at the ready at DigiYatra, along with private support staff, it is to mask the machineness of machines.
Though FASTag was brought in as early as 2014, the uptake in the earnest started in 2019. Reason being steep penalty, you pay twice the toll for not using FASTag. All the appeal on the convenience, time and cost saving associated with this new chip failed to move people, till one stroke from the transport department got everyone towing the line, right from the truck drivers to car owners. Such clear punitive measures are often seen as distasteful, and organisations typically appeal to the good senses of their customers to bring about adoption.
If FASTag is the case of punitive measures, UPI is the story of positive incentives. Your first UPI transaction, especially receiving money in total, directly to your savings account, is nothing short of magical. Suddenly, the robust cash economy feels the heat, and the power users are those at the bottom of the pyramid, no more handling of cash, and you see your money saving, if not growing.
The digital + human and incentive + punishment approach fit deftly with India’s embracing of the global but keeping one foot riveted to the local. Not only that the country enjoys a huge market advantage, at time when most western markets are witnessing saturation, and even China is cooling down, the technology savviness matches to the best in class. India’s young, upwardly mobile, technologically savvy, and experimentative population warrants that the best technology be brought to India, but without losing the soul of its context.
The handheld fingerprint scanner that tethers with a mobile phone for authenticating Aadhar credentials is just a case in point on how we married the global with the local. Indian banks, stock markets, and healthcare are as developed as any in the world, and yet there is never getting away from the need of the land.
The corporate world can embrace the three levers of digital + human, incentives + penalties, and global + local to bring about not just Made in India offerings, but also Innovate in India, and there’s nothing magical about it, except in the foresight.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publication. |
