• India signed digital public infrastructure cooperation agreements with 23 countries, including six in Africa.

• Six African countries will access 18 Indian digital platforms through India Stack Global.

• The World Economic Forum warned about cybersecurity and systemic risks linked to large-scale DPI deployment.

India’s government announced the agreements on February 6. Authorities said the partnerships will focus on digital identity systems, digital payments, data exchange frameworks and public service delivery platforms.

The six African countries involved are Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, The Gambia and Lesotho. These countries will replicate or adopt Indian digital governance platforms through India Stack Global, a portal that showcases India’s DPI solutions and facilitates their deployment among partner countries. The portal provides access to 18 core digital solutions.

These solutions include Aadhaar, a biometric digital identity platform; Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a real-time digital payment system; DigiLocker, a secure digital document wallet; e-Hospital, an online hospital management system; e-Office, a paperless governance platform; eCourts, a judicial digitization system; and DIKSHA, a national digital learning platform.

Other platforms cover vaccination management, secure data sharing, digital health services, public procurement, online administrative services, telemedicine, non-communicable disease monitoring, nutrition services, skills development and employment services, public finance management and infrastructure planning.

This initiative comes as many African governments view digital transformation as a lever for socio-economic development. Policymakers increasingly consider DPI as structural tools to improve public sector efficiency, expand financial inclusion and widen access to essential services. India has positioned itself as a global reference in this domain, with its platforms serving around 1.3 billion people and attracting growing international interest. UPI already operates in the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, France, Mauritius and Qatar.

India ranks 97th globally in the United Nations 2024 E-Government Development Index (EGDI) with a score of 0.6678 out of 1. The country scores above the global average of 0.6382 and well above the African average of 0.4247. In the Online Services sub-index, India records a score of 0.8184 out of 1, exceeding the global average of 0.5754.

Systemic Risks Should Not Be Underestimated

However, analysts have raised concerns about systemic risks linked to DPI expansion, particularly in cybersecurity. In a study published in October 2025, the World Economic Forum (WEF) stated that as governments, especially in the Global South, seek to replicate similar architectures, the key challenge no longer lies only in building DPI but in designing secure systems.

The study highlighted several vulnerabilities observed in India. Public exposure of personal data belonging to public officials led to a massive data breach affecting more than 20 million citizens. Authorities also detected attempts to manipulate systems using forged biometric materials. In addition, correlation attacks showed that integration of Aadhaar across multiple public services could generate cascading privacy risks.

As cyber threats targeting critical infrastructure intensify, the WEF stated that governments must prioritize DPI security. The organization warned that even a potential cyberattack could compromise system integrity and availability while undermining public trust. The WEF identified synthetic identity fraud, algorithmic bias, AI-driven cyber threats and data sovereignty concerns as major risk factors.

Isaac K. Kassouwi