India has set a benchmark for the world in adopting digitization. From using cash predominantly, India has come a long way to accept and remit digital payments. In fact, India surpassed China in the total volume of real-time payments this year.
According to IndiaStack’s website, Indians have completed 67 billion digital verifications and Rs 5.47 trillion worth of monthly real-time mobile payments!
Similarly, Aadhar has helped individuals get access to various government schemes. It has also simplified the KYC process for opening a bank account or procuring a driving license. Aadhar and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) have transformed how people transact and avail of government benefits.
Although these different technologies simplified the operations and improved citizens’ experience, there was no way to verify their identities across all platforms. The systems were susceptible to fraud and misuse. There was an urgent need to make these systems sharable and verifiable. India needed an approach that could be applied across all functions and domains. This quest led to a new project called IndiaStack.
IndiaStack is a set of open APIs that combines the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) projects for digital payments and Aadhar’s identity and authentication capabilities to build a unified platform, promote financial inclusivity, and encourage the entire population to embrace digitization.
There are four layers that form the foundation of IndiaStack:
IndiaStack offers plenty of benefits to government agencies, individuals, and government-owned or private institutions.
IndiaStack has bridged the gap between individuals, businesses, and governments by stitching different technologies and digital initiatives into a unified system. International bodies like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have hailed the project for bringing financial inclusivity and enabling Indians to participate in the digital economy more actively.
IndiaStack operates on open networks.
Take India’s Open Credit Enablement Network, for instance. The credits flow between the borrowers, lenders, and credit distributors through an open network. It uses a common set of standards that allows banks, individuals, and credit card providers to connect with each other. It helps individuals avail of different banking products and services without going through a lengthy onboarding process, and banks to provide quick services without compromising compliance procedures. Open networks create a level-playing field for all participants of the digital ecosystems. It promotes innovation and enables developers to focus on building innovative products and experiences than worrying about the underlying infrastructure.
According to the IndiaStack website, the project will not be limited to India. Other countries can implement it to improve social and financial inclusion among their citizens.
Besides that, here are a few developments that we can expect from IndiaStack in the future.
IndiaStack is helping Indians to adopt digital-first services. Even governments have been using it to improve service delivery.
Financial institutions that undermine the potential of digital-first products and services will face a tough time thriving in competition.
Verinite is committed to helping financial institutions embrace digital transformation and building new frontiers to keep pace with customer demands and growing competition.
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