By Himanshu Maradiya, Founder and Chairman, CIFDAQ
India stands at the cusp of a digital revolution that could redefine financial trust for the entire world. Our nation has already demonstrated remarkable innovation; building the world’s largest digital identity system with Aadhaar1, redefining payments through UPI, and reaching a remarkable scale of digital payment adoption that seemed impossible just a decade ago. This foundation of digital excellence creates an extraordinary opportunity for India to lead the next wave of financial innovation.
The vision of a blockchain-led Digital Bharat is the natural evolution of our technological leadership. It is a transformative approach that places unprecedented power into the hands of citizens by creating an ecosystem of transparency, security, and financial inclusion at the grassroot level. We must adopt this new technology by architecting a digital infrastructure that embodies the democratic values of our nation. The new Viksit Bharat stands with the potential to become the definitive global model for trustworthy, citizen-centric digital finance.
The Foundation of Self-Sovereign Identity and True Data Ownership
The current digital landscape treats citizens as data subjects rather than data owners. Every transaction, every click, and every digital interaction generates actual value that flows to centralised entities. This value has the potential to empower individuals, enrich services, and build more responsive digital ecosystems that respect privacy, strengthen identity, and share value more equitably.
Self-sovereign identity represents a radical shift where individuals control their digital identities without relying solely on centralised authorities. Imagine a system where your educational credentials, financial history, and personal data exist on a blockchain that you control —accessible when you choose to share it, immutable when authenticity matters, and private by default.
Government initiatives like DigiLocker have already laid the crucial groundwork by digitising documents and creating secure digital lockers for citizens. The natural next step involves enhancing these systems with blockchain infrastructure, enabling citizens to move from accessing their documents to truly owning them. This evolution ensures greater resilience, enhanced privacy, and expanded functionality across the digital ecosystem.
Consider the transformative impact on financial services. Citizens could maintain their own verified identity credentials. A farmer in any rural district could instantly access their credit details without lengthy documentation processes, using blockchain-verified land records and previous transaction history that they control, and share at will.
Blockchain as the Backbone of Digital Assets
According to a report by Chainalysis2, India led the world in cryptocurrency adoption for two consecutive years, in 2023 and 2024. Cryptocurrency and digital assets embody a fundamental reimagining of value transfer and storage. In a blockchain-led Digital Bharat, technologies have the potential to become tools for financial inclusion that create a change in the way they are perceived and utilised.
The Reserve Bank of India’s progressive exploration of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) like the e-Rupee demonstrates forward-thinking leadership in this space. This foundation enables even more innovative applications, moving beyond digitising existing systems to creating entirely new models of programmable finance.
Adopting this approach transcends traditional banking limitations by creating new possibilities. Where conventional institutions face challenges in serving remote populations economically, blockchain-based systems can operate with streamlined infrastructure requirements. A smartphone and internet connection can become gateways to sophisticated financial services, giving access to saving structures, credit, insurance, and investment opportunities.
Bridging Digital Divides through Decentralised Infrastructure
As India’s digital transformation journey continues to accelerate, decentralised infrastructure offers exciting opportunities to enhance participation across all communities. Rather than simply extending existing centralised platforms, blockchain networks enable community-owned nodes that create local digital economies serving regional needs, while connecting to global networks.
This approach can transform rural areas from service recipients into active value creators and participants in the digital economy. The remarkable success of India’s UPI penetration demonstrates the tremendous potential for inclusive digital infrastructure. Today, over 86%3 of the rural Indian population confidently uses UPI payments. As per the latest National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) study4, respondents demonstrating good financial literacy increased by 17% from the previous year. The study also showed that 44% of agricultural households in India have a KCC, or Kisan Credit Card. These statistics show that rural India is ready for a digital revolution.
Building on this foundation, blockchain-based systems can eliminate single points of dependency while enabling programmable transactions that automatically manage complex scenarios like conditional payments, escrow services, and multi-party settlements.
Blockchain Literacy and Inclusion at the Grassroots
For technology adoption to succeed, a bottom-up structure of understanding and ownership needs to be created. Building a blockchain-led Digital Bharat requires investments in digital literacy that go beyond basic computer skills, to encompass understanding of distributed systems, cryptographic security, and economic tokenisation.
Programmes like the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA), have shown remarkable progress and can be leveraged to lead India into the next wave of this revolution. A major move could be creating blockchain literacy centres in every district, operated by local entrepreneurs who earn income by providing education, basic blockchain services, and technical support.
The key lies in connecting abstract blockchain concepts to tangible benefits. When a small business owner understands that blockchain can create an immutable ledger that can save him hours of accounting time at the end of the month, adoption becomes inevitable rather than aspirational.
Digital Bharat as a Global Model
India’s unique position, combining technological capability, regulatory flexibility, and massive scale, creates an opportunity to establish global standards for blockchain-based governance and finance. A successful blockchain-led Digital Bharat would provide a replicable model for other developing nations seeking to build inclusive digital economies.
By 2030, India’s digital economy is projected to contribute nearly one-fifth5 of the country’s overall income. The foundation is ready — established digital infrastructure, proven innovation capacity, regulatory foresight, and citizen enthusiasm for digital solutions. What’s needed now is the continued commitment to prioritise citizen empowerment through technology, sustainable long-term transformation, and inclusive growth that benefits all communities.
The technology exists. The need is urgent. The opportunity is unprecedented. The possibility of a Viksit Digital Bharat is right before our eyes. Let’s make it happen.