DPI

DPI Brief — July 22, 2026 Supreme Court Directs CBSE to Implement APAAR Opt-Out Nationwide The Supreme Court on July 20 said it will direct the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to implement the Orissa High Court’s December 2025 judgment requiring the APAAR (Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry) consent form to explicitly offer parents the option to refuse Aadhaar-linking and opt out of the scheme. The Court noted that the Centre did not challenge the Orissa HC order, effectively accepting it. Petitioners had argued that the APAAR scheme effectively compels Aadhaar enrollment for students, raising serious privacy and data protection concerns. While the Court stopped short of striking down the scheme, it directed CBSE to “examine the issues” around parental consent and data safeguards. APAAR — a DPI layer-adjacent identity initiative that creates a permanent academic account linked to Aadhaar — now faces sharpened scrutiny as India’s DPDP Act gradually takes effect. The case is a bellwether for how consent and data minimisation obligations will be enforced on Aadhaar-linked government schemes. (MediaNama, Times of India) ...

DPI Brief — July 21, 2026 UPI MDR Debate Resurfaces as June Transaction Volume Hits 22.7 Billion India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) processed 22.72 billion transactions worth ₹28.92 lakh crore in June 2026, according to NPCI data released this week. The 731 banks live on UPI continue to drive volume, but the surge has reignited a long-standing debate on sustainability. The government is actively considering reintroducing the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on select UPI transactions — a fee that was zeroed out in January 2020 to accelerate adoption. Under the proposal being discussed, an MDR of below 0.5% would apply only to merchants with annual turnover of approximately ₹1-1.5 crore, and only for transactions exceeding ₹2,000. Person-to-person transfers and small merchants would remain unaffected. Banks and payment service providers have long argued that the zero-MDR regime makes infrastructure costs unsustainable at current volumes, though a final decision from the Centre is pending. ...

DPI Deep Dive — Monday | July 20, 2026 India’s identity layer had a remarkably active week. UIDAI pushed the Aadhaar App past a major download milestone, waived fees for email updates, expanded its offline verification framework to law enforcement in the Northeast, inaugurated new Aadhaar Seva Kendras across underserved districts, and saw its authentication infrastructure adopted by a major health insurance TPA. Here’s a deep dive into the five most significant developments in the Identity & Authentication layer from July 13–20, 2026. ...

DPI Brief — July 20, 2026 UPI MDR May Return for Large Merchants (L2: Payments) The government is actively examining a proposal to reintroduce the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on UPI transactions for large merchants, marking a potential shift in India’s zero-fee digital payments policy after nearly six years. According to a report in the Economic Times, the levy — pegged at below 0.5% — would apply only to merchants with annual turnover of ₹1–1.5 crore or more, and only on transactions above ₹2,000. Person-to-person transfers and payments to small merchants would remain free. ...

DPI Deep Dive — Sunday | July 19, 2026 This week in India’s Security, Privacy & Trust layer (L7): a nuclear plant data breach sends shockwaves through critical infrastructure defences, CERT-In weaponises AI for cyber defence, BFSI sector gets a new threat playbook, and TRAI escalates its battle against spam-call apps. Here are the five biggest developments. 1. Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant Breach: Supply Chain Becomes the Attack Vector The most alarming cybersecurity incident of the week — and possibly the year — broke on July 15 when ransomware group World Leaks posted over 19,000 files on the dark web allegedly linked to India’s largest nuclear power plant at Kudankulam, Tamil Nadu. The documents, reportedly including engineering blueprints for Units 3 and 4, supplier details, and infrastructure records, were labelled as originating from Reliance Group, a contractor for the plant’s expansion. ...

DPI Brief — July 19, 2026 NTA Finalises DigiLocker Integration for Old NEET Scorecards (L3 — Documents) The National Testing Agency (NTA) has informed the Chief Information Commission (CIC) that a DigiLocker-based mechanism to retrieve previous years’ NEET scorecards is in its final stages of development. The move came during an RTI hearing filed by a NEET-UG 2020 candidate who needed a certified old scorecard for FMGE eligibility verification via the National Board of Examinations. Currently, NTA destroys older records after 90 days, leaving thousands of medical aspirants without access to their own exam documents. The DigiLocker integration will allow candidates to retrieve authenticated scorecards after proper identity verification — a significant expansion of DigiLocker’s role beyond academic marksheet storage into standardized test documentation. This sets a precedent that could extend to other national-level examinations. ...

DPI Deep Dive — Saturday | July 18, 2026 Layer L6: Governance & Grievance — DARPG, CPGRAMS, eOffice, eCourts, RTI, Digital Policing 1. e-Zero FIR Expands to 10+ States: ₹25,000 Crore in Cyber Fraud Prevented India’s automated e-Zero FIR system—first launched as a Delhi pilot in May 2025—has now been rolled out to at least 10 states and union territories: Delhi, Haryana, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Chandigarh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, and Assam. The system automatically converts cyber financial crime complaints with losses exceeding ₹10 lakh, filed via the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) or the 1930 helpline, into Zero FIRs registered at Delhi’s e-Crime Police Station, which are then routed to the relevant territorial jurisdiction. ...

DPI Brief — July 17, 2026 India-Indonesia UPI-QRIS Integration Advances Cross-Border Payments (L2) India and Indonesia are accelerating the linkage of their real-time payment systems — UPI and QRIS (Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard). Announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to Jakarta earlier this month, the integration is expected to go live by end-2026, enabling Indian and Indonesian travellers to scan and pay seamlessly across both countries. This builds on ONDC’s earlier partnership agreement with Indonesia’s ION (Indonesia Open Network), extending India’s digital commerce and payments stack into Southeast Asia’s largest economy. UPI is now live or linking in 10 countries outside India, including France, Sri Lanka, and Qatar. The cross-border payments push dovetails with the broader “Digital Border” concept being discussed in policy circles — using DPI as a trade instrument rather than just a domestic utility. ...

DPI Deep Dive — Thursday | July 16, 2026 Layer: L4 — Commerce & Logistics | ONDC, GeM, and the digitisation of India’s trade infrastructure India’s commerce and logistics layer of its Digital Public Infrastructure stack had an eventful week. From Uber doubling down on ONDC-powered B2B logistics and metro ticketing expansion, to the government mandating GeM portal procurement for newspapers and magazines across all ministries, and the continued broadening of ONDC’s transit and logistics network — the week of July 9–16, 2026, underscored how open digital rails are steadily rewiring how India buys, sells, and moves goods. ...

DPI Brief — July 16, 2026 1. Kudankulam Nuclear Plant Data Breach — Ransomware Hits Critical Infrastructure Contractor (L7: Trust) Ransomware group World Leaks has posted a massive cache of files on the dark web related to India’s largest nuclear power plant at Kudankulam, Tamil Nadu. The leaked data includes purported blueprints of facility components and supplier details, which the group claims originated from Reliance Group — a contractor at the plant. Reliance confirmed a “partial breach” of data hosted on a server operated by Yotta, an Indian data centre service provider, and stated the government has been informed. ...