Future Alliance' Part Of India's Big G20 Push

The G20 summit under the Indian presidency is likely to see the emergence of an India-led multilateral and multi-stakeholder institution dedicated to taking the Indian experience of digital public infrastructure (DPI) global — the One Future Alliance (OFA)

- Prashant Jha

After the International Solar Alliance and the Coalition of Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, if all of a set of G20 members approve, OFA will be the third major international institution to be pioneered by India under the Narendra Modi government.

OFA and the One Future Fund, which is aimed at helping developing countries adopt DPI, were both discussed at the conceptual level at the June meeting of the Digital Economy Working Group of G20, with the idea of OFA then subsequently discussed at the digital economy ministerial in August.

OFA will aim to build capacity, provide funding, offer technical assistance and synergise global efforts in the domain of DPI and will be supplemented by a new Global DPI Repository, which will emerge as a virtual and voluntary bank of DPI initiatives of G20 members.

While subject to the approval of leaders, people familiar with discussions on the subject said that OFA is likely to be headquartered in India and led by an Indian, but with the participation of other governments as well as private sector players, donors, and civil society outfits. Given the complexities involved in setting up a multilateral institution, there may be an in-principle nod to the idea of the OFA at the summit, while leaving the more specific modalities of how it will take shape for future discussions.