India Insight: Digital diplomacy builds bridges

India’s interoperable “Unified Payments Interface” is an open set of specifications that speeds up the movement of cash, reduces the scope for dodging the taxman and makes it easier for startups to thrive.

New Delhi’s digital diplomacy is making inroads. When India rolled out its online payments infrastructure to power real-time money transfers six years ago, it unwittingly laid the foundation for a technology-driven Belt and Road initiative. It gives Prime Minister Narendra Modi a more cost-efficient answer to China’s multi-trillion-dollar splurge on ports and pipelines in the intensifying battle for regional influence.