Standardized Payment Interfaces As Digital Public Infrastructure: Learning From The Experience In India And Brazil

In a world transformed by digitalization, the adoption of digital payments centric digital public infrastructure (DPI) has become a key public policy topic. This policy brief reviews the payments DPI approach in two leading jurisdictions – Brazil and India – to study the evolution of these systems and the lessons that can be learned from their experiences. Based on this analysis, we offer five guiding rails that can guide the move towards adoption of standardized payment interfaces among G20 nations and in other parts of the world and to improve the outcomes of existing systems. The recommendations focus on a) building robust metrics for measuring the successes and failures of DPI interventions, b) careful and holistic assessment of competitive effects, c) collaborative governance structures instead of a top-down approach, d) user-centric approach to data management and multiple channels for assistance to users, and e) mechanisms for ensuring the system’s accountability to an independent regulator, system participants, and end users.