We examined how to make 5-minute inclusive loans, whereby a digital lending system can unlock credit for low income customers, a reality in India. The project presented think tank iSPIRT’s “India Stack” as a powerful open digital infrastructure to enable an effective user experience.

The genesis of India Stack can be traced back to the Government of India’s Open API Policy (2015).
The policy stated that the Government envisaged making its services digitally accessible to citizens through multiple channels, such as web, mobile and common service delivery outlets. Further, the Digital India campaign launched by the Prime Minister in 2015 reinforced India’s focus on digitization and build-out of digital infrastructure as a key strategic priority. In order to facilitate this process, the iSPIRT1 team conceptualized the “India Stack,” a set of powerful open and programmable capabilities.
It is designed to have 4 distinct layers

•  A presence-less layer where a universal biometric digital identity allows people to participate in any service from anywhere in the country;
• A paper-less layer where digital records move with an individual’s digital identity, eliminating the need for massive amount of paper collection and storage;
• A cashless layer where a single interface to all the country’s bank accounts and wallets democratizes payments; and
•  A consent layer which allows user data to move efficiently and securely based on user consent and control;

Each layer of the India Stack has a specific technology – Aadhaar authentication and eKYC, eSign and Digilocker, Unified Payments Interface, and consent architecture – with corresponding public APIs, under India’s Open API policy.

Download the detailed report here.