Today we’ll talk about the most ambitious project of the digital era. This blog will give an introduction About India Stack. We purchased things with well-worn banknotes earlier. But, in today’s scenario, 3 out of 4 people use smartphones and go cashless.

How did this development happen? How does the Indian population move into a digital life? To develop a keen insight into the digital world, read this blog.

It is a set of APIs, a cashless service delivery. The developer and startups take advantage of the India Stack. It makes cashless payment easy. Boundaries don’t matter for India Stack because you can use them anywhere across the country.

Back in 2009, the idea was generated with the launch of the biometric digital ID system. It was introduced by former Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh. The government encouraged people to share their fingerprints and photographs.

Prime Minister, Narendra Modi launched Digital India Week on 4 July 2022. This was a four-day celebration which started on 4th July. That week’s festival had three-day “India Stack Knowledge” program.

The second-day “India Stack Knowledge Exchange” discussion witnessed many topics. One of them was Health Stack. We’ll discuss Health Stack later in this blog. Till then focus on India Stack.

There are many agencies that owned and maintained this framework. The unique ID authority of India owned E-auth and e-KYC.

The two major components of the India stack are

• Proof for each citizen is Aadhaar.
• NPCI, a digital payments framework.

1.29 billion Aadhaar cards have been issued since 2016. In 2021, the NPCI reported 3.6 billion transactions which amount to US$88 billion.

It plays a great role in the foundation of our country(India). The 4 major layers of India Stack are

• It is an open personal data store, owned by the Reserve Bank of India.
• This framework allows you to access modern privacy data-sharing.

• It is an interoperable payment network.
• NPCI owned this layer. It includes IMPS, AEPS, APB, and UPI.
• It reduces the costs of digital financial transactions.

• This layer can store and redeem information.
• It is owned by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology.
• It includes e-Sign, e-KYC, and the Digital Locker. The 2 major components of the paperless layer are:
  • Digital Locker
  • Digital Signature

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• This layer has open API access.
• It includes the Mobile Aadhaar and Aadhaar card.
• You can present ID cards for proof in case of an Aadhaar card.

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• It delivers complete services to citizens.
• The main focus is to improve people’s life.
• It is a product of several years of innovation.
• A paperless and cashless delivery system.

Some of the APIs that are a central part of India Stack:

• Aadhaar Proof
• Aadhaar e-KYC
• e-Sign
• Digital Locker
• Unified Payment Interface (UPI)
• Digital User Consent- Work in progress

Earlier, people used digital payment modes with a limit. Very few out of us did online payments. But at the time of COVID-19, handling cash was difficult for citizens. This pandemic boosted cashless payments. With your finger click, you can transfer money across the country.

• It used The COVID-19 Government Relief Program to help out women and farmers. Through this program, officials paid $44 billion to the needy.
• It has given formal proof to all citizens whether it is rich or poor, in the digital economy.
• India Stack includes NPCI’s open access.
• It has given the world a model for closing gaps in financial inclusion. It impacts the economy of India.

We, people, rely on UPI. There are some known faces of payment gateway. These are BharatPe, Paytm, RazorPay, and PhonePe.

Suppose, you’re a regular user of the Delhi Metro. One day you don’t have the cash to recharge your metro card. You can choose one of the online payment modes like AmazonPay, PhonePe, and Paytm.

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We told you earlier in the blog that India stack is a broad term. It includes a health stack, an education stack, etc. Health Stack means having digital health records.

According to the Niti Aayog, the Health Stack was welcomed in India to improve healthcare facilities. It boosted medical research and health analysis. It is said, that the health stack will help to design future health initiatives.