India's digital infrastructure among world's 10 highly effective reforms: CareEdge

India's Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) has emerged as one of the world's 10 highly effective structural reforms, supported by the wide reach of Aadhaar, the scale of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions and the growing use of digital payments by businesses, according to a report by CareEdge Global Ratings.

India's Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) has emerged as one of the world's 10 highly effective structural reforms, supported by the wide reach of Aadhaar, the scale of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions and the growing use of digital payments by businesses, according to a report by CareEdge Global Ratings. According to the report, India's digital infrastructure has expanded access to digital services, reduced transaction costs and supported financial inclusion and economic formalisation.

The report examined 43 reform cases across 38 countries and classified India's digital public infrastructure among the 10 highly effective reforms. India's Aadhaar system covers more than 1.3 billion people, accounting for approximately 95 per cent of the population. Meanwhile, UPI processes more than 13 billion transactions every month, reflecting the scale of the country's digital payments network.

The report also highlighted the growing use of digital transactions among micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which account for more than 85 per cent of their transactions. This indicates greater integration of businesses with the formal economy. Nitesh Jain, Chief Rating Officer, CareEdge Global Ratings said,"India’s DPI stands out because it addresses foundational gaps that have historically constrained the reach of the formal economy: dependence on cash, limited access to banking and formal credit, and inadequate infrastructure for delivering financial services and welfare benefits at scale. The significance of this reform lies in creating a common digital foundation that can serve multiple economic and administrative functions simultaneously.”

The report identified institutional coordination and interoperability as important factors behind the success of digital public infrastructure. Collaboration among government agencies, regulators, banks, payment networks and fintech companies has helped support its development and use. Of the 43 reforms examined, 10 were classified as highly effective, nine as moderately effective, 15 as work in progress and nine as least effective. Europe and the Asia-Pacific region accounted for eight of the 10 highly effective cases, with four each.

Other reforms identified as highly effective included tax digitalisation in Greece, Germany's debt brake, banking reforms in Cyprus and Project Repeal in the Philippines. The report emphasised that announcing reforms is not enough to deliver lasting results. Effective reforms require coherent policy design, proper sequencing, clear mandates, political commitment and stakeholder support. Their success ultimately depends on credible implementation and measurable improvements.

It also highlighted the need for future reforms to address emerging challenges, including advances in artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure requirements, climate risks, critical technologies and supply chains. (ANI)