Abstract

Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) encompasses digital identity, payments, and consent-based data sharing systems. India's DPI, anchored by Aadhaar and the broader India Stack, has become the principal global benchmark, actively promoted for adoption across more than fifty countries. Yet the governance of India's DPI is not exclusively a state enterprise. Think tanks, private-sector volunteers, philanthropic foundations, management consultants, and civil society organisations have been centrally involved in designing, advocating for, and shaping this foundational infrastructure. This thesis examines the role and influence of these non-state actors in India's DPI ecosystem. It asks who they are, what functions they perform, and how their motivations and interactions shape the governance of infrastructure. The research draws on fieldwork in India, including interviews with key actors and observation at major DPI conferences and organisations.

About the speaker

Suvradip’s doctoral research focuses on empirical and socio-technical approaches to understanding how data, biometrics and AI technologies are entwined with colonial, gendered and racial power structures. In particular, he is researching socio-political agendas and framings embedded in digital identity and national AI projects in the majority world, with a focus on India. He holds an MPhil in Ethics of AI, Data and Algorithms from the University of Cambridge, and a Bachelor of Science/LLB (First Class Honours) from the University of Queensland. He has also practised as a privacy lawyer at the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, commercial lawyer at Corrs Chambers Westgarth and Brookwater Legal and was a judicial associate in the Queensland Court of Appeal.

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