India’s DPI has created an open playing field where nobody owns the infrastructure and everybody is allowed to participate equally, said ex-Infosys cofounder
India’s DPI has been developed better than in the west where handful of players own the whole thing including apps, data and even services, he added
Gopalakrishnan also highlighted the example of UPI, saying that the payments infrastructure had put India on a leadership pedestal
Infosys cofounder and Axilor Ventures’ chairman Kris Gopalakrishnan believes that India’s “unique” digital public infrastructure (DPI) presents an opportunity for homegrown startups to leverage it for business.
Gopalakrishnan made the comments during the second day of the ongoing ‘Startup Mahakumbh’ in New Delhi on Tuesday (March 19).
“This will completely transform the way digitisation happens in the country, which I believe is a better way than the way it has developed in the west where you have few players owning the whole thing including applications, data and even services,” Gopalakrishnan added.
Lauding the country’s DPI, he said that the country was adopting a new way of digitisation, which was enabled by the government and volunteers creating the code and entrepreneurs developing apps on top of that.
This, he added, created an open playing field where nobody owned the digital public infrastructure and everybody was allowed to participate equally.
Citing the example of the digital lending framework through OCEN (Open Credit Enablement Network), the Axilor cofounder also said that the DPI could be leveraged to streamline the entire lending process, enabling credit at low costs to MSMEs by banks, NBFCs, among others.
Gopalakrishnan also claimed that, post the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), India will see the emergence of a health stack that will bring hospitals and insurers together.
On the second day of the Startup Mahakumbh, Gopalakrishnan also highlighted the example of UPI, saying that the infrastructure had put India on a leadership pedestal and boosted financial inclusion for individuals and small businesses.
“The RBI created its sandbox to test it first with banks. It is an open-source tool which can be easily used by other banks now. By the end of the pilot, we will be able to issue credit cards instantly. The digital lending platform can then be extended to MSMEs, allowing seamless lending even for meagre amounts,” Gopalakrishnan said.
The day also featured two sessions organised by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Startup Hub (MSH) encompassing guidance for early-stage startup founders looking to raise capital.
