Indonesia to adopt India's digital blueprint beyond UPI, Modi visit to highlight cooperation
NEW DELHI: Indonesia is set to become the latest country to integrate with India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and explore broader digital public infrastructure. Unlike previous adopters like France, Singapore, and the UAE, which mainly used UPI for cross-border payments, Indonesia aims to use India's digital framework as a model for its own sovereign digital ecosystem.
Beyond UPI integration, Indonesia seeks to develop interoperable platforms for commerce, digital identity, and public services, which could eventually be exported across the ASEAN region. The collaboration is expected to be a key topic during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Indonesia starting Monday.
An official stated, 'From food security and digital governance to healthcare, agriculture and defence, India's successful public policy models are becoming valuable reference points for Indonesia's own development journey.' Several Indonesian delegations have visited India to study initiatives like the Public Distribution System (PDS), AgriStack, rice fortification, fertiliser subsidy reforms, PM POSHAN, and the Jan Aushadhi programme.
Indonesia's Free Nutritious Meals programme draws inspiration from India's Mid-Day Meal (PM POSHAN) scheme, while its Red and White Village Cooperatives initiative explores cooperation on affordable medicines through the Jan Aushadhi model. In defence, Indonesia is working with India on manufacturing, technology transfer, military training, and maritime cooperation, leveraging India's experience under Atmanirbhar Bharat.
A proposed UPI-QRIS linkage will enable seamless cross-border payments, benefiting nearly 1.7 million Indian tourists visiting Indonesia annually, especially in Bali. Indonesia is also building the Indonesia Open Network (ION), an open digital commerce platform inspired by India's Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).
