India's digital infra making financial services more accessible: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands recently met to champion India's Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), highlighting its pivotal role in making financial services universally accessible and affordable across the nation. Queen Maxima, visiting India as the UN Secretary-General's Special Advocate for Financial Health, underscored the global significance of India's DPI-led revolution, which the country is now committed to sharing with partner countries worldwide. This interaction signals India's growing leadership in digital transformation, offering a scalable model for inclusive development. India's digital leap, anchored by its comprehensive India Stack — a layered framework comprising foundational identity (Aadhaar), instant payments (UPI), and secure document management (DigiLocker) — has dramatically expanded financial inclusion, bringing millions into the formal economy and enhancing 'Ease of Living'. The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) alone processed over 20 billion transactions in April 2026, solidifying its status as the world's largest real-time payment system. This success has not only been lauded by institutions like the IMF but has also spurred India to sign agreements with 23-24 nations to foster global cooperation on digital governance and financial health. As India actively promotes its 'Digital Non-Alignment' strategy, offering open-source, interoperable DPI solutions tailored to local needs, the focus now shifts to how effectively partner countries can adopt and adapt these frameworks. With ongoing discussions and successful implementations of UPI in several countries, the world watches as India positions itself as a digital public goods hub, aiming to build a truly global Citizens' Stack. The coming months will reveal the tangible impacts of these partnerships, particularly in accelerating financial resilience and well-being in emerging economies.