PM Modi Bats For India Stack, Says India’s Digital Public Infra Can Tackle Global Challenges

Touting India Stack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday (August 19) said that the country’s digital public infrastructure could be scaled worldwide to tackle global challenges. 

“India’s digital public infrastructure offers scalable, secure and inclusive solutions for global challenges,” said Modi in his virtual address during the G20 digital economy ministers’ meeting in Bengaluru. 

Modi also said that India is an ‘ideal testing lab’ for solutions that can be replicated globally anywhere in the world. Citing his rationale, he said that products that succeed in India could be emulated globally. 

The PM  also said that the country is willing to share its experiences in the domain of digital public goods, adding that India Stack has been envisaged to ensure ‘no one is left behind, especially those from the Global South’. 

Mentioning state-backed and AI-powered language translation platform Bhashini, the PM said that its new offering will support digital inclusion in all diverse languages of India. Citing the potential global nature of security threats in the future, Modi also called on the delegates to build a consensus on ‘G20 High-Level Principles’ for building a secure, trusted, and resilient digital economy. 

Speaking at the same event, Union Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw also called for global collaborative efforts to combat digital security threats. He underlined three key areas – digital public infrastructure, digital economy security and digital skilling –  identified by India to foster democratisation of technology. 

India Stack refers to a host of open application programming interfaces (APIs) and digital public goods infrastructure developed by the Indian government to promote interoperability, build payments networks and streamline data-driven services. India Stack in the umbrella term that includes a host of projects from UPI to the account aggregator network.

India has been pitching to countries globally for the deployment of India Stack. Earlier this week, India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Trinidad and Tobago to share the India Stack and cooperate in the area of ‘digital transformation.’ 

Apart from that, India has signed similar pacts with countries such as Armenia, Sierra Leone, Suriname, and Antigua & Barbuda. Meanwhile, nations such as Mauritius and Saudi Arabia are also mulling deploying the India Stack.

Earlier this week, the Union Cabinet also approved the expansion of the Digital India initiative with an additional outlay of INR 14,903 Cr.