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Beyond payments: India aims to architect Indonesia’s digital future

A successful digital collaboration with Indonesia could elevate India into ‘a primary architect of its infrastructure’, analysts say

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A customer pays cash to buy vegetables next to a QR code of Paytm, a digital payments firm, on display at a roadside market in Ahmedabad, India, in February 2024. Photo: Reuters
Biman Mukherji
India’s wildly popular digital payments system, which began as a way for people to send money instantly by phone, could help the country turn one of its biggest domestic technology successes into a tool of diplomacy, analysts say.
That opportunity is coming into focus in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, where officials are studying whether India’s low-cost digital systems can be adapted to their own needs.

The talks centre on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), India’s instant payment system launched about a decade ago that has become one of the most visible parts of the country’s digital transformation.

New Delhi has already signed agreements with several nations, including Singapore, to facilitate cross-border payments, but analysts say Jakarta’s interest appears to go further.

According to a report in The Times of India on Monday, Indonesia is looking at India’s broader digital public infrastructure as a possible blueprint for building its own sovereign system. Several Indonesian delegations have also recently visited India to study public policy initiatives as Jakarta seeks to strengthen food security and healthcare services.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is currently in Indonesia until Wednesday before travelling to Australia and New Zealand.
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