What happened: India’s DPI pitch at the BRICS ICT thematic panel (Pune)
Union Minister of State for Communications, Dr Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, delivered a keynote address at the BRICS ICT Track Thematic Panel Discussion titled “Sustainable and Resilient Digital and ICT Ecosystems: Digital Public Infrastructure for Impact – Global South Insights on Powering Public Services and Economic Growth,” held in Pune. He addressed an international delegation from BRICS nations and presented India’s vision of open, inclusive, and resilient digital architectures for citizens and for economic progress.
What the keynote argued: moving from physical infrastructure to population-scale digital rails
The keynote contrasted conventional infrastructure narratives (roads, ports, power grids) with India’s focus on population-scale digital rails. Pemmasani positioned India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) as an open and interoperable foundational public layer that can connect banks, fintech enterprises, and government departments to create diverse consumer services.
The keynote described DPI as building blocks that support remote verification, digital payments, welfare delivery, and trusted document exchange at scale—under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi (as stated in the government communication).
Core pillars of DPI highlighted in the address (with numbers stated in the keynote)
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