You probably do not realise it, but every time you pay your chaiwala five bucks via any UPI platform, you play a part in helping India double itself to a $7 trillion economy.
The UPI, or Unified Payment Interface, forms just one pillar of "New India", as an HSBC report calls it. This New India is not isolated from the "Old India", the report says but is playing an instrumental role in pulling the Old India out of sluggish growth.
A look at New India
Born out of the necessity to make government services and welfare schemes more accessible, the digital public infrastructure (DPI) forms a core part of New India. Once perceived as a mere technological showpiece, the DPI paved the way for greater accessibility of government services to the larger public, rich and poor alike. At the centre of the DPI is India Stack.
India Stack is a collection of government-backed APIs on which private companies can build software. Think Aadhar, UPI, DigiLocker, CoWin, etc.
An important part of DPI is the emergence of UPI, one which needs no introduction. Indians’ approach towards digital transactions has revolutionised commerce in the country. Data shows that India processed nearly 74 billion digital transactions worth $1.6 trillion in 2022, eclipsing the value of instant digital transactions in the US, UK, Germany and France combined. A people once heavily reliant on cash for day-to-day and relatively big-ticket transactions now feel at great ease in whipping out the phone and scanning a QR code for everything sold under the sun.
"By establishing a digital public infrastructure on an unprecedented scale, India has set an enviable example of how rapid technological innovation can help a country leapfrog and spur its economic growth", wrote Neha Sahni, Director-Global Market Strategist, HSBC Global Private Banking and Wealth, in her report..
Read more at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/how-an-emerging-new-india-can-change-the-sluggish-old-india/articleshow/101361148.cms
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