World rushes to adopt the 'India Stack' while 'UPI' goes global

New Delhi/Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], February 15 : The Modular Open-Source Identity Platform, or MOSIP, an open-source foundational identity platform developed by the International Institute of Information Technology, Bengaluru, has partnered with the National Civil Registration Authority of the western African country of Sierra Leone, to develop a digital ID pilot project on the lines of India's Aadhar.
India's successful digital journey, from creating Aadhar--a unique digital identity that is accepted across the country--to creating a wider set of open APIs called India Stack, has ushered in a digital revolution around the globe.
"Eighty million people in the world have got their identity using MOSIP and we are working with eleven countries. Five of them are rolling out nationwide programmes and six are evaluating it in large pilot programmes," said Krishnan Rajagopalan, Head of Country Implementations, MOSIP.
As many as six nations, including Sri Lanka, Morocco, the Philippines, Guinea, Ethiopia, and the Togolese Republic, are already using the platform.
Apart from these countries, Tunisia, Samoa, Uganda, and Nigeria have also expressed their willingness to adopt the Indian model.
India Stack is a collection of open APIs and public goods that aim to make identity, data, and payments easy and viable for all.
The primary components of the India stack are a presence-less layer, a paperless layer, a faceless layer, and a consent layer.
A successful example of India Stack is that Indians completed over 8 billion UPI transactions to the tune of over 237 billion USD in January alone this year, according to NPCI.
When the entire world was severely impacted by the economic headwinds caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and exacerbated by disrupted supply chains, it was the India Stack technology that assisted India in preventing a critical situation from spiralling out of control and saving its poorest citizens by sending them both money and material without delay.
Even the most developed of countries struggled to deliver essential food and medical supplies to their citizens during those days.
Witnessing India's success, many countries have not only applauded 'India Stack' but have also expressed interest in acquiring the system themselves.
During his visit to New Delhi last year, French Minister Jean-Noel Barrot also lauded India's tech and UPI payment mode.
"There is a lot that we can learn from one another. We are very much impressed by what has been achieved in India with India's tech and UPI," said Barrot.
Digital Locker, another division of India Stack, provides Indians with a paperless platform to protect their documents in a government-supervised locker.
While India Stack was fundamentally created to benefit the citizens of India, the country, which runs on the core ideals of Vasudhaiv Kutumbhkam--the world is one family--never hesitated to share the technology with her global brethren.
India Stack is no longer exclusively available in India.
As it describes itself, India Stack is a collection of open APIs and a vision for the world.
India has been generously assisting others in developing a similar platform for the social and financial inclusion of their citizens. Observers around the world believe that India will be the next digital leader.
India has leveraged her ever-widening pool of tech-savvy talent to accomplish her ambitions. The world is counting on India to assist in achieving global digital goals as well as paving the way for Brand India to flourish further.