Just as highways, roads, and rails provide a foundation for us to move where we need and transport goods, another base layer of immense importance is taking shape across the globe. This time, online.
In emerging economies, micro-entrepreneurs, women, and smallholder farmers can now send and receive instant payments, access digital marketplaces, and manage their loans using a mobile phone. All this is possible because of this foundational digital public infrastructure.
But what is digital infrastructure?
Digital public infrastructure (DPI) is the digital backbone on which systems are built to ensure the safe and efficient delivery of goods and services.
Like its physical counterpart, digital public infrastructure is essential for the functioning of a society, as it is commonly used for digital identity, digital payments, and data sharing.
When implemented thoughtfully, digital public infrastructure can drive financial inclusion and development for many left out of the formal economy. DPI connects people, governments, and businesses to essential services such as banking, healthcare, and social benefits.
What are examples of digital public infrastructure?
An example of digital public infrastructure is India’s open-source public digital highway known as the “India Stack.” As one of the world’s most advanced examples of digital public infrastructure, it connects digital identification numbers assigned to Indians at birth using their Aadhaar system to deliver a variety of services, from government welfare benefits to boosting financial inclusion through easy access to loans or insurance.
Built onto this digital public infrastructure in India is a payment system known as United Payments Interface, or UPI, which launched in 2016 and allows the public and private sector to quickly and safely send and receive funds using a single mobile application. UPI takes less than 15 seconds to complete a payment and has no added transaction costs for merchants or consumers. Today, UPI boasts over 350 million users in the country, accounting for 48 percent of global transactions.
In Brazil, the instant payment system Pix is another example of digital public infrastructure. Developed by the central bank, Pix is free for individuals to use and more affordable for merchants than credit cards. Using the Pix platform, the country’s social welfare program delivers financial support to approximately 14 million families, advancing poverty alleviation goals. Another example of digital public infrastructure is Estonia’s X-Road, which allows the government to provide 99 percent of public services online. Using X-Road, Estonians can file taxes or register a new business in a fraction of the time it would have taken before.
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Who owns digital public infrastructure?
Digital public infrastructure is considered a public good, implemented most commonly through public-private sector partnership. Governments typically create the policy and regulations necessary to safeguard citizen privacy and prevent fraud, while the private sector works in tandem to develop digital solutions.
For digital public infrastructure to work effectively and safely, those seeking to implement it must be committed to equitable digital transformation that builds trust and protects user privacy.
Why is digital public infrastructure important?
With thoughtful adoption, digital public infrastructure can bring vulnerable communities often overlooked by the formal financial system into the labor market, driving both social progress and healthy market competition for thriving economies. In lower- and middle-income countries, it’s estimated that digital public infrastructure can help accelerate economic growth by 20-33 percent.
Access to quick and easy payment systems that use digital public infrastructure is essential for reducing poverty and building resilience for the many entrepreneurs, rural women, and smallholder farmers that form the backbone of emerging economies.
Responsible loans, savings accounts, and insurance can transform the lives of many living in resource-constrained environments, and DPI is the foundation on which these services are built.
For smallholder farmers, digital public infrastructure provides the platform for the quick transfer of digital cash in times of extreme weather. In sub-Saharan Africa and India, for example, farmers can access crop insurance and tools like green asset financing for biogas digesters to build resilience and protect their livelihoods in times of crisis. Digital public infrastructure also allows for more efficient and effective provision of health care. When clinics and pharmacies provide services built off these digital rails, health records can be stored and shared quickly — and digitally — between institutions, improving the speed and access of care.
How Accion works with digital public infrastructure
Accion works closely with partners around the world to connect vulnerable communities to the digital economy and expand opportunity — and much of this work requires digital public infrastructure.
Accion and our partners build on the foundation digital public infrastructure provides to connect the underserved with a suite of financial services, including responsible credit, insurance, and savings.
In Kenya, small businesses are managing inventory, customer inquiries, and sales all within a single platform. In Indonesia, small loans and instant payments via QR code are growing the savings of women micro-entrepreneurs. And fintech innovations in Mexico, supported by Accion, are improving access to data for financial service providers, helping them make more informed decisions.
Today, 1.6 billion people remain left out of, or poorly served by, the formal financial sector. Reaching the next billion will be more challenging than the last, as two-thirds will be smallholder farmers and women, living in harder-to-reach rural areas. To drive financial inclusion, responsibly expanding digital public infrastructure — and investing in innovations that bring more people into the digital economy — will be key.
Much of this safeguarding work is happening in tandem at the Center for Financial Inclusion, an independent think tank housed at Accion. In 2025, CFI launched the Global DPI Insights Community, a global network of researchers, academics, policymakers, technologists, and private sector actors. As momentum grows for digital public infrastructure globally, the network aims to support new research and develop insights to inform how it can advance inclusion and deliver equitable outcomes without compromising user safety or entrenching state or corporate control.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Most digital public infrastructure is built on three core layers: digital identity, payments, and data sharing. Together, these make it easier for people and businesses to prove who they are, send and receive money, and access services.
Digital public infrastructure is the foundation. It provides the rails that fintech companies build on—like identity systems or payment networks. Fintech then uses those rails to offer services such as wallets, lending, or insurance.
Clear regulations, strong data protection, and user consent are key. Without those, there can be a risk of misuse or loss of trust.
India, Brazil, and Estonia are often highlighted for their progress. Each has built systems that make payments faster, services more accessible, and government processes more efficient.
It helps small businesses get paid digitally, access credit, and reach customers online. That can mean lower operational costs, better cash flow, and more room to grow.
It lowers the barriers to entry. People who were previously excluded — especially in rural or informal settings — can more easily access basic financial services like payments, savings, and credit.
