by Dr Bayu Prawira Hie

When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Indonesia in early July 2026, discussions will naturally focus on strengthening bilateral cooperation in areas such as trade, investment, defense, energy, and geopolitical partnerships. These are important agendas that reflect the growing strategic relationship between two of Asia’s largest democracies. Yet another opportunity deserves equal—if not greater—attention.

It is the opportunity to collaborate in building the next generation of Public Digital Infrastructure (PDI) that could fundamentally reshape Indonesia’s digital economy over the coming decades. Unlike conventional digital initiatives, Public Digital Infrastructure is not simply another technology project. Nor is it another government platform, another marketplace, or another mobile application. It is a foundational economic infrastructure that enables businesses, governments, financial institutions, and citizens to participate in an open, interoperable, and trusted digital ecosystem.

Its significance is comparable to the construction of highways during the industrial era or broadband internet during the information age. Infrastructure does not create economic value by itself. It creates the conditions that allow others to create value.

This distinction is particularly important because many discussions surrounding digital transformation continue to focus primarily on technology. Governments discuss artificial intelligence, cloud computing, cybersecurity, data centers, and digital platforms. Companies invest heavily in mobile applications, automation, data analytics, and customer engagement technologies.

These investments are essential. But they are no longer sufficient. The next stage of digital transformation will be determined not by who develops the best technology, but by who builds the most effective digital ecosystem.

Digital Transformation Is Entering a New Phase

For more than a decade, organizations have viewed digital transformation as a means of improving customer experience and increasing operational efficiency. Banks have introduced mobile banking and digital onboarding. Telecommunications companies have developed digital lifestyle applications. Retailers have embraced omnichannel commerce. Government agencies have digitized public services.

These initiatives have undoubtedly delivered significant benefits. Customers enjoy faster and more convenient services. Organizations operate more efficiently. Processes become increasingly automated. Operating costs decline. However, these improvements primarily optimize existing businesses. They do not necessarily create entirely new businesses.

This distinction is becoming increasingly important. As digital technologies become widely accessible, competitive advantage no longer comes from technology alone. Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, automation platforms, and mobile technologies are now available to almost every organization. Technology is becoming a commodity. The real differentiator is an organization’s ability to create new business models.

For banks, this may involve evolving from financial institutions into digital lifestyle platforms. In fact, banks in Indonesia have tried to do so in their mobile banking application. Look at the “Lifestyle” icon in MyBCA, “Sukha” in Livin’ by Mandiri, “Lifestyle” in Wondr by BNI. They have done it with limited success.

For telecommunications companies, it means expanding beyond connectivity into digital commerce. Look at “Lifestyle” icon at the right bottom of Telkomsel app, or “Lifestyle” in myIM3 by Indosat, they all have also tried with limited success.

For retailers, it involves integrating financial services, logistics, and ecosystem partnerships. For governments, it means creating an environment where innovation can occur across industries rather than within isolated sectors.

The future of digital transformation therefore lies not only in improving existing operations but in enabling entirely new forms of economic collaboration.

Indonesia Does Not Need Another Marketplace

Indonesia already has one of the most vibrant digital commerce ecosystems in Southeast Asia. Large e-commerce platforms compete aggressively for consumers. Banks continue expanding their digital capabilities. Telecommunications companies are investing heavily in digital services. Retailers have built sophisticated online channels. Technology startups continue introducing innovative digital solutions.

From the outside, Indonesia appears to have everything necessary for a thriving digital economy. Yet beneath this impressive progress lies a structural limitation. Digital ecosystems remain fragmented. Each organization builds its own platform. Each develops its own merchant ecosystem. Each negotiates its own partnerships. Each performs its own technology integration. Each establishes its own governance processes. Each creates its own commercial arrangements. The same work is repeated thousands of times across industries.

As a result, organizations spend significant resources connecting with one another before they can begin creating value for customers. The challenge is therefore not a shortage of digital platforms. The challenge is the absence of a common digital infrastructure that allows these platforms to collaborate efficiently.

This is where Public Digital Infrastructure becomes strategically important. Rather than replacing existing platforms, Public Digital Infrastructure connects them. Rather than competing with innovation, it accelerates innovation. Rather than creating another digital marketplace, it enables countless digital marketplaces and business ecosystems to flourish simultaneously.

The Opportunity Is Bigger Than Technology

One common misconception is that cooperation with India would primarily involve technology transfer. That assumption underestimates the real value of India’s experience. Technology can always be developed. Software can always be improved. Platforms can always be redesigned. The most valuable asset created through India’s implementation of the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is not software. It is experience. Building a national-scale digital infrastructure inevitably involves overcoming challenges that cannot be fully anticipated during system design. Questions emerge regarding governance, commercial incentives, interoperability, merchant participation, consumer adoption, regulatory alignment, operational resilience, dispute resolution. Data governance. Digital trust. These challenges are not signs of failure. They are natural characteristics of any large-scale innovation.

Every transformative technology in history—from the internet to payment networks and mobile communications—has evolved through continuous learning, experimentation, and refinement. ONDC has already gone through much of this journey. That accumulated experience is an invaluable strategic asset.

From Technology Transfer to Knowledge Transfer

Traditionally, international cooperation has focused on transferring technology. Today, the greater opportunity lies in transferring implementation knowledge. Knowing what to build is important. Knowing how to implement it successfully is even more valuable.

Implementation knowledge includes practical understanding of governance, stakeholder management, incentive structures, technical interoperability, regulatory coordination, ecosystem development, and change management. These lessons are rarely captured completely in technical documentation because they are learned through experience.

India has invested years building this institutional knowledge. Indonesia now has the opportunity to benefit from that investment. This does not mean Indonesia should simply replicate ONDC. Every country possesses different regulatory frameworks, industrial structures, consumer behaviors, payment systems, logistics capabilities, and institutional arrangements.

Indonesia has successfully developed initiatives such as QRIS and BI-FAST, possesses one of the world’s most dynamic banking sectors, and faces unique challenges as an archipelagic nation with thousands of islands and diverse regional economies. Therefore, Indonesia’s Public Digital Infrastructure must be uniquely Indonesian. The architecture should be informed by India’s experience but designed for Indonesia’s own economic priorities. The objective is not replication. The objective is intelligent adaptation.

A Once-in-a-Generation Opportunity

Countries that pioneer breakthrough innovations inevitably bear the full cost of discovery. They invest years experimenting with governance models, refining standards, adjusting commercial incentives, and learning from operational challenges. Those investments create something that is often more valuable than the technology itself. They create institutional knowledge. Indonesia occupies a unique position.

It has the opportunity to become one of the first countries in the world to build a national open digital commerce ecosystem while drawing upon the practical lessons already learned elsewhere. This allows Indonesia to begin not at the starting line, but several stages ahead. The country can avoid repeating many of the inevitable trial-and-error cycles that accompany pioneering innovation and instead focus its resources on creating solutions that reflect Indonesia’s own strengths and aspirations.

This is why the forthcoming visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi should be viewed as more than a diplomatic milestone. It represents an opportunity for two emerging economic powers to build a strategic partnership around one of the most important foundations of the future digital economy. If successful, the collaboration will not merely strengthen bilateral relations between Indonesia and India. It may establish a new model for how developing nations cooperate—not by exporting finished solutions, but by sharing experience, institutional knowledge, and implementation wisdom.

In the digital economy, knowledge is increasingly becoming the most valuable infrastructure of all. And perhaps that is India’s greatest contribution to Indonesia’s Public Digital Infrastructure journey.

India’s Greatest Contribution: The Cost of Discovery Has Already Been Paid

History shows that every major infrastructure revolution follows a remarkably similar pattern. Railways transformed transportation, but only after decades of engineering failures and operational refinements. Commercial aviation evolved through countless improvements in safety regulations, airport operations, and international standards. The Internet itself was not created overnight; it matured over decades through continuous experimentation involving governments, universities, technology companies, and international standards organizations.

Public Digital Infrastructure is no different. While discussions often focus on technology, the real challenge is not building the platform itself. Modern software can be developed by thousands of capable engineers. Cloud infrastructure is widely available. Artificial intelligence tools continue to become more accessible. Technical capability is no longer the primary constraint. The real challenge lies in building an ecosystem. An ecosystem involves people before it involves technology. It requires competitors to collaborate, regulators to coordinate, businesses to trust one another, and consumers to change long-established habits. Unlike software, ecosystems cannot simply be programmed. They evolve through continuous interaction, adaptation, and learning.

This is why the implementation of Public Digital Infrastructure is fundamentally different from developing a digital application. It is not merely a software project. It is an economic transformation project.

Every Innovation Has a Discovery Cost

When discussing innovation, most organizations calculate financial investment. They estimate development costs. Infrastructure costs. Operational costs. Marketing costs. Yet there is another cost that is rarely discussed but often proves much larger. It is the Cost of Discovery. The Cost of Discovery refers to the resources required to answer questions that no one can fully answer before implementation begins. How should governance be structured? What commercial incentives encourage participation? How should disputes be resolved? How open should the ecosystem be? How should data be protected while maintaining interoperability? How should responsibilities be allocated between infrastructure providers and ecosystem participants? How should innovation be encouraged without compromising standardization?

These questions cannot be answered perfectly through theoretical design. They require experimentation. Some approaches work. Others do not. Many require refinement after interacting with real businesses and real consumers. Every country pioneering a new digital architecture inevitably pays this discovery cost. The investment is unavoidable. The important question is who pays it first.

ONDC: Beyond Technology, Toward Institutional Learning

India’s Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) should therefore be viewed from a broader perspective. Too often, discussions focus on ONDC as a technology platform. This perspective overlooks its greatest achievement. ONDC represents one of the world’s largest experiments in building an open digital commerce ecosystem involving government, financial institutions, technology companies, logistics providers, merchants, and consumers. Over several years, ONDC has accumulated an extraordinary body of implementation experience addressing precisely these issues. Some decisions proved successful.

Others required modification. Some assumptions changed completely after observing real-world behavior. This should not be interpreted as evidence that the concept is flawed. On the contrary. It demonstrates that large-scale innovation matures through continuous learning. The most valuable product generated by ONDC is not software. It is institutional knowledge.

The Opportunity for Implementation Leapfrogging

Much has been written about technology leapfrogging. Developing countries often bypass older technologies and adopt newer generations directly. Mobile communications replaced fixed-line telephones in many regions. Digital banking expanded without requiring extensive physical branch networks. Mobile payments grew rapidly in countries where traditional payment infrastructure remained limited.

Public Digital Infrastructure presents a different opportunity. Indonesia does not merely have the opportunity to leapfrog technology. Indonesia can leapfrog implementation. This may represent an even greater advantage. Instead of beginning with uncertainty, Indonesia can begin with accumulated experience. Instead of discovering every challenge independently, Indonesia can anticipate many of them in advance. Instead of investing years validating fundamental concepts, Indonesia can focus on refining and localizing proven approaches.

This dramatically shortens the learning curve. Importantly, implementation leapfrogging does not eliminate innovation. It accelerates innovation. Because fewer resources are consumed solving previously discovered problems, more resources become available for creating solutions that address uniquely Indonesian priorities. In other words, Indonesia can innovate from a significantly higher starting point.

Learning Is Not Copying

There is an important distinction between learning and copying. Countries frequently make one of two mistakes. Some believe successful foreign models should be replicated exactly. Others reject foreign experience entirely because local conditions differ. Neither approach is optimal. Every successful national digital infrastructure reflects its own economic history, regulatory environment, institutional capacity, industrial structure, and social characteristics.

India’s economy differs substantially from Indonesia’s. Its scale, demographic profile, retail landscape, regulatory evolution, payment ecosystem, and digital adoption patterns are distinct. Indonesia likewise possesses unique strengths. QRIS has become one of the world’s most successful national QR payment systems. BI-FAST has modernized real-time payments.

Indonesia’s banking sector has achieved high levels of digital adoption. The country’s telecommunications industry is mature. Its startup ecosystem is dynamic. Government agencies have accumulated considerable experience implementing nationwide digital initiatives. These characteristics suggest that Indonesia should not seek to reproduce ONDC. Instead, Indonesia should adopt the underlying principles while designing an implementation model that reflects Indonesian realities. The principle is simple: Adopt the principles. Localize the execution. This approach allows Indonesia to preserve flexibility while avoiding unnecessary repetition of problems that have already been solved elsewhere.

A Rare Strategic Advantage

History rarely offers countries the opportunity to become early adopters of a transformative economic architecture without bearing the full burden of pioneering it. Indonesia now enjoys precisely such a position. India has already undertaken much of the difficult journey. It has invested years exploring unknown territory. It has accumulated practical knowledge through real implementation.

Indonesia has the opportunity to build upon those experiences while developing a Public Digital Infrastructure that reflects its own national priorities. This is not about following India’s footsteps. It is about beginning the journey several kilometers ahead of the starting line. The greatest advantage available to Indonesia is therefore not access to India’s technology. It is access to India’s accumulated experience. In the emerging digital economy, that experience may prove to be one of the most valuable strategic assets any nation can acquire.

The challenge for Indonesia is no longer whether to build Public Digital Infrastructure. The challenge is how to transform years of India’s ONDC implementation experience into a uniquely Indonesian model capable of unlocking entirely new business models, strengthening national competitiveness, and positioning Indonesia as the next major digital economy in Asia. That challenge—and opportunity—is the focus of the next section.

Principles Are Universal. Implementation Is Local.

Every successful digital infrastructure consists of two different layers. The first layer contains universal principles. These principles rarely change across countries. Open interoperability. Standardized communication protocols. Trusted digital identity. Secure payment mechanisms. Transparent governance. Equal access for ecosystem participants.

Open competition. Innovation through interoperability rather than exclusivity. These principles are globally applicable because they address common economic challenges. The second layer consists of implementation. Implementation is never universal. It depends entirely on local conditions.

This is where Indonesia must design its own approach. Rather than asking, “How did India implement ONDC?” Indonesia should ask, “How should Indonesia implement these principles within Indonesia’s own economic ecosystem?” That question leads to a very different conversation.

Indonesia Is Not India

Although both countries are among Asia’s largest democracies with rapidly growing digital economies, their economic structures differ in important ways. India’s retail economy developed around millions of small neighborhood stores spread across an enormous domestic market. Indonesia also has a vibrant MSME sector, but its economic geography is fundamentally different.

Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelagic nation. More than 17,000 islands create logistics challenges unlike those faced by almost any other country. Transportation costs vary significantly across regions. Supply chains differ between Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Bali, Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, and Papua.  Digital infrastructure must therefore accommodate geographical diversity as much as technological diversity. Consumer behavior also differs. Indonesia has one of Southeast Asia’s highest social media engagement rates. Digital commerce is increasingly influenced by social interaction, community trust, and creator-driven ecosystems. These characteristics should influence how digital marketplaces evolve. The financial sector presents another important difference.

Indonesia already possesses several nationally successful digital infrastructures. QRIS has become one of the world’s most successful interoperable QR payment systems. BI-FAST has modernized real-time payments. The banking sector has invested heavily in mobile banking, digital onboarding, fraud detection, artificial intelligence, and API-based integration. Unlike many countries beginning digital transformation from fragmented payment systems, Indonesia already has strong financial infrastructure upon which Public Digital Infrastructure can be built. This represents a significant competitive advantage.

Building on Existing National Assets

A common misconception is that implementing Public Digital Infrastructure requires replacing existing systems. The opposite is true. Successful digital infrastructure builds upon assets that already exist.

Indonesia has already invested significantly in digital public goods. Banks possess trusted customer relationships with tens of millions of account holders. Telecommunications companies maintain daily interactions with millions of subscribers. Retailers operate sophisticated loyalty ecosystems. Logistics companies continue expanding nationwide delivery capabilities. Digital payment infrastructure has achieved remarkable levels of interoperability. Government agencies continue digitizing public services. These are not obstacles to Public Digital Infrastructure. They are its foundation. The objective is therefore not to replace existing digital platforms. It is to connect them.

Instead of encouraging every organization to construct another isolated ecosystem, Public Digital Infrastructure allows existing ecosystems to interact through common standards while preserving competition. Every participant continues competing through innovation. What changes is the cost of collaboration.

The Real Value Lies in the Network

Traditional digital transformation often encourages organizations to think individually. Each company builds its own application. Its own merchant ecosystem. Its own payment integration. Its own logistics partnerships. Its own customer acquisition strategy. This approach inevitably creates duplication. Public Digital Infrastructure changes the unit of analysis. Instead of optimizing individual organizations, it optimizes the network itself. This distinction is profound. Economic value increasingly emerges not from isolated organizations but from interactions between organizations.

A bank creates greater value when customers can purchase products from thousands of merchants. Merchants create greater value when they can access millions of banking customers. Logistics companies become more efficient when connected to multiple digital commerce platforms. Financial institutions improve lending decisions when transaction histories become richer and more comprehensive. Every participant benefits because the network itself becomes more valuable as participation increases. Economists describe this phenomenon as network effects. Public Digital Infrastructure institutionalizes these network effects at a national scale.

Why Indonesia’s Banking Sector Can Become the Catalyst

Indonesia possesses one important advantage that is often overlooked. Its banking industry already maintains one of the country’s largest trusted digital customer bases. For decades, banks have invested in building customer trust. They have developed sophisticated risk management systems. They have implemented strict regulatory compliance. They possess verified customer identities. They process enormous volumes of financial transactions every day.

In the era of Public Digital Infrastructure, these assets become strategic advantages far beyond traditional banking. Banks no longer need to view themselves solely as providers of financial products. They can become trusted buyer applications connecting customers with a much broader digital economy. Instead of building hundreds of bilateral partnerships with merchants, banks can connect to an open ecosystem where thousands of participating sellers become accessible through standardized infrastructure.

This changes the economics of digital transformation. Banks continue focusing on trust, customer relationships, payments, financing, and risk management. Merchants continue focusing on products and services. Logistics providers continue focusing on fulfillment. Each participant specializes in what it does best. The infrastructure performs the integration. This represents a much more scalable model than asking every organization to independently recreate the same ecosystem capabilities.

Adapting Governance, Not Only Technology

Perhaps the greatest lesson Indonesia can learn from India’s experience concerns governance rather than technology. Technology problems are often relatively straightforward. Governance problems are considerably more complex. Who establishes technical standards? How are disputes resolved? How should participation requirements evolve? How should innovation be encouraged without compromising interoperability? How should commercial neutrality be maintained? How should trust be preserved among competing participants?

These questions determine whether Public Digital Infrastructure remains open, trusted, and sustainable over time. Technology enables ecosystems. Governance sustains them. Consequently, bilateral cooperation between Indonesia and India should include not only technical collaboration but also continuous dialogue on governance, institutional design, regulatory evolution, ecosystem management, and stakeholder engagement. This is where implementation knowledge becomes invaluable.

From Learning to Leadership

Some observers may view Indonesia as simply following India’s lead. That interpretation would underestimate Indonesia’s potential. Learning from another country’s experience is not a sign of dependence. It is a strategy for accelerating innovation. Indeed, history shows that many successful economies advanced not by inventing every technology themselves but by intelligently adapting proven ideas to local conditions and then improving them.

Japan did this during its industrialization. South Korea did the same in electronics and manufacturing. Singapore adapted global best practices in governance and logistics. China rapidly localized technologies while building innovations suited to its own market. Innovation has never been solely about invention. It has always been about adaptation. Indonesia now has the opportunity to follow the same path.

By combining India’s implementation experience with Indonesia’s own strengths—including its mature banking sector, advanced payment infrastructure, vibrant digital economy, and strong government commitment—Indonesia can develop a Public Digital Infrastructure that is not simply an extension of ONDC, but an evolution of it. This should be Indonesia’s ambition. Not to become the second country implementing ONDC. But to become the first country building the next generation of Public Digital Infrastructure based on the lessons already learned.

If India demonstrated that open digital commerce is possible, Indonesia now has the opportunity to demonstrate how such infrastructure can unlock entirely new business models across banking, telecommunications, healthcare, agriculture, education, logistics, manufacturing, tourism, and countless other sectors. That opportunity begins not by copying another nation’s architecture. It begins by understanding its principles—and then building something even better for Indonesia.

Public Digital Infrastructure: Unlocking the Third Pillar of Digital Transformation

For more than two decades, organizations have invested billions of dollars in digital transformation. Banks modernized their core banking systems. Telecommunications companies digitized customer interactions. Retailers developed omnichannel experiences. Manufacturers automated production. Governments digitized public services. The results have been impressive. Customers receive faster services. Operations become more efficient. Decision making becomes increasingly data driven. Artificial intelligence improves productivity. Automation reduces operational costs. Yet despite these achievements, one important question remains: Why do so many successful digital transformation initiatives produce only incremental growth rather than transformational growth?

The answer lies in a misunderstanding of what digital transformation is ultimately meant to achieve. Technology has never been the destination. Technology is merely the enabler. The destination is business transformation. And business transformation is measured not only by how efficiently organizations operate, but by whether they are able to create entirely new sources of economic value.

This is where Public Digital Infrastructure becomes strategically important. It enables the third—and most valuable—pillar of digital transformation.

The Missing Third Pillar

Throughout my experience advising financial institutions on digital transformation, I have found that most transformation programs pursue three strategic objectives. The first is Customer Experience. Organizations seek to make services simpler, faster, more personalized, and more convenient. The second is Operational Excellence. Automation, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and data analytics are deployed to reduce costs while improving speed, productivity, governance, and resilience. These two pillars are now well understood. Nearly every major bank in Indonesia has invested significantly in both.

The third pillar, however, remains considerably more difficult. It is New Business Model Innovation. Unlike the first two pillars, this objective is not about improving existing business. It is about creating entirely new business. It asks a fundamentally different question. Instead of asking, “How can we serve customers better?” or “How can we become more efficient?” the third pillar asks, “How can we generate revenue from opportunities that did not previously exist?” This question represents the future of digital transformation.

Beyond Core Business

Historically, organizations generated revenue almost entirely from their core businesses. Banks earned income from deposits, lending, treasury, and payment services. Telecommunications companies generated revenue from voice, messaging, and data connectivity. Retailers sold products. Insurance companies underwrote risk. Digital transformation has fundamentally altered this logic. Today, organizations increasingly recognize that their greatest strategic asset is not their traditional products. It is their customer ecosystem. A large Indonesian bank may serve tens of millions of customers. A telecommunications operator interacts daily with millions of subscribers. Retailers maintain enormous loyalty databases. Healthcare providers possess trusted long-term patient relationships. Universities engage students throughout many years of education.

These customer communities represent extraordinary economic assets. The question is no longer whether organizations possess customers. The question is whether they can create new business models around those customers. This explains why so many organizations aspire to build super applications. A super app is not merely a mobile application. It is an attempt to monetize customer relationships beyond the organization’s traditional business boundaries. Banks seek to offer travel, healthcare, education, insurance, automotive products, investment services, and lifestyle commerce. Telecommunications companies aspire to become digital lifestyle platforms. Retailers expand into financial services. Insurance companies integrate healthcare ecosystems. The objective is always the same. Generate new revenue beyond the core business.

Why Most Super Apps Eventually Slow Down

Despite enormous investment, relatively few organizations succeed in building truly open ecosystems. The reason is often misunderstood. It is not because customers reject the concept. Nor is it because organizations lack technology. The obstacle is partnership complexity. Every additional service requires another commercial agreement. Another legal contract. Another API integration. Another settlement mechanism. Another operational workflow. Another governance process. Another customer support model.

As organizations add more ecosystem partners, complexity grows exponentially. Eventually, business development teams spend more time negotiating partnerships than creating innovation. Technology teams spend more time integrating systems than building new capabilities. Legal departments become bottlenecks. Operational costs increase. Time-to-market slows. Ironically, the organization possesses millions of customers but cannot efficiently expand the range of products available to those customers. The digital platform grows. The business model does not. This explains why the third pillar of digital transformation has proven so difficult to achieve.

Public Digital Infrastructure Changes the Economics

Public Digital Infrastructure changes this equation entirely. Instead of asking every organization to independently build hundreds of commercial relationships, Public Digital Infrastructure establishes a common ecosystem where buyer applications and seller applications connect through standardized infrastructure. The implications are profound. A bank no longer needs to become a marketplace operator. It continues doing what it already does best. Building customer trust. Managing financial risk. Providing payment services. Offering financing. Managing customer relationships.

Meanwhile, merchants continue focusing on products. Logistics companies continue focusing on delivery. Technology companies continue innovating. The infrastructure performs the coordination. Instead of building another ecosystem, organizations join an ecosystem. This dramatically lowers the cost of creating new business models. The organization’s strategic focus shifts away from integration and toward innovation.

A New Opportunity for Indonesian Banks

This transformation is particularly important for Indonesia’s banking industry. For years, banks have pursued digital transformation primarily by improving customer experience. Mobile banking applications became increasingly sophisticated. Digital onboarding became commonplace. Artificial intelligence enhanced customer service. Payment systems became faster. These investments strengthened competitiveness. However, future growth will increasingly depend upon creating new revenue streams. Public Digital Infrastructure enables banks to evolve from financial institutions into ecosystem orchestrators.

Imagine a customer opening a banking application. Instead of accessing only financial products, the customer can purchase agricultural products directly from farmers. Book healthcare services. Finance the purchase of a motorcycle. Buy a home. Reserve travel packages. Pay university tuition. Purchase insurance. Invest. Access government services. Arrange logistics. The banking application becomes a gateway to Indonesia’s broader digital economy. Importantly, the bank does not become a retailer. Nor does it become a logistics company. Instead, it remains a trusted financial intermediary while enabling transactions across a much larger ecosystem. This is precisely what new business model innovation looks like.

Better Economics for Digital Banks

The implications become even more significant for digital banks. Many digital banks currently depend heavily on strategic partnerships with large marketplace platforms. This relationship creates an imbalance. Marketplace platforms control customer transactions. Digital banks provide financing. Revenue must often be shared. Margins become compressed. Customer ownership becomes fragmented.

Public Digital Infrastructure fundamentally changes this relationship. Rather than relying on one dominant marketplace, digital banks can participate in an open ecosystem containing thousands of independent sellers. This creates several strategic advantages. Customer acquisition becomes more diversified. Commercial dependence on individual platforms declines. Banks gain greater flexibility in selecting ecosystem partners. Competition among sellers improves pricing and commercial terms. More importantly, banks can increasingly offer financing to their own customers rather than acquiring unknown borrowers through external marketplaces. Risk assessment improves because banks possess richer customer information, longer transaction histories, and stronger relationships. Responsible lending becomes easier. Credit quality improves. Financial inclusion expands without necessarily increasing credit risk. This represents a healthier long-term business model for both banks and consumers.

Public Digital Infrastructure Enables Markets to Grow

Perhaps the greatest misconception about Public Digital Infrastructure is the belief that it threatens existing marketplace platforms. In reality, it does the opposite. It expands the market. Large marketplaces will continue to innovate. They possess powerful brands, sophisticated customer experiences, advanced logistics capabilities, and enormous merchant ecosystems. Public Digital Infrastructure does not replace these strengths. Instead, it lowers barriers for new participants.

Banks can become buyer applications. Telecommunications companies can become buyer applications. Universities. Hospitals. State-owned enterprises. Cooperatives. Regional governments. Every organization with trusted customer relationships can become part of the digital economy without building an entire marketplace from scratch. Likewise, sellers gain access to multiple buyer communities through a single interoperable infrastructure. The result is a larger digital economy. Not a redistribution of existing transactions. A larger economy. That distinction is fundamental.

From Digital Transformation to Economic Transformation

Ultimately, Public Digital Infrastructure should not be viewed as another chapter in digital transformation. It represents something much larger. It transforms digital transformation from an organizational initiative into a national economic strategy.

Customer Experience remains important. Operational Excellence remains essential. But the greatest opportunity lies in the third pillar. New Business Models. That is where Indonesia’s next wave of economic growth will emerge.

Public Digital Infrastructure provides the foundation. India’s ONDC provides valuable implementation experience. Indonesia provides the market, the institutions, the financial sector, and the entrepreneurial energy. Together, these elements create a rare opportunity—not merely to digitize existing industries, but to build entirely new ones. That is the true promise of Public Digital Infrastructure. And that is why the partnership between Indonesia and India has the potential to become one of the most consequential digital economic collaborations in Asia.

Beyond Banking: Building a National Digital Economy Through Public Digital Infrastructure

While the banking industry may become one of the earliest beneficiaries of Public Digital Infrastructure (PDI), its true significance extends far beyond financial services. Public Digital Infrastructure is not a banking initiative. It is not a commerce initiative. Nor is it a government technology project. It is an economic infrastructure capable of connecting industries that have traditionally operated independently. This distinction is crucial.

Many discussions about digital transformation remain organization-centric. Banks seek to transform banking. Telecommunications companies seek to transform telecommunications. Retailers seek to transform retail. Healthcare providers digitize healthcare services. Government agencies modernize public services. Public Digital Infrastructure changes this perspective. Instead of transforming individual industries, it enables industries to transform together. The unit of transformation is no longer the organization. It is the economy.

The Network Economy Is Replacing the Platform Economy

During the past decade, the digital economy has largely been shaped by platforms. Marketplaces connected buyers and sellers. Ride-hailing platforms connected passengers and drivers. Food delivery platforms connected restaurants and consumers. Financial technology platforms connected lenders and borrowers.

These platforms have generated enormous economic value. However, they also introduced a new challenge. Each platform became its own digital island. Merchants joined multiple platforms. Consumers installed multiple applications. Service providers developed separate integrations. Financial institutions negotiated different commercial agreements with each platform. Logistics providers built customized connections for every marketplace. As more platforms emerged, complexity increased rather than decreased. This is a natural consequence of the platform economy. Public Digital Infrastructure introduces a different paradigm. Instead of connecting participants to individual platforms, it connects platforms to one another. The economy gradually shifts from a Platform Economy toward a Network Economy.

This is an important conceptual distinction. Platforms compete. Networks collaborate. Platforms create proprietary ecosystems. Networks create interoperable ecosystems. Both will continue to exist. But increasingly, the greatest economic value will be created where platforms are able to interact through shared digital infrastructure.

Every Industry Becomes Both a Buyer and a Seller

Perhaps the most powerful consequence of Public Digital Infrastructure is that traditional industry boundaries begin to disappear. In the past, companies could usually be classified into distinct categories. Banks provided financial services. Hospitals delivered healthcare. Universities provided education. Agricultural cooperatives sold agricultural products. Manufacturers produced goods. Telecommunications companies sold connectivity. Public Digital Infrastructure fundamentally changes this model.

Every organization becomes both a consumer and a provider of digital services. A bank becomes a distribution channel for healthcare services. A hospital becomes a provider of financial products through embedded financing. A university becomes a marketplace for lifelong learning, certification, and professional development. Agricultural cooperatives become suppliers to retailers, exporters, food manufacturers, and hospitality companies. Manufacturers can connect directly with institutional buyers. Tourism operators can collaborate seamlessly with transportation providers, hotels, insurance companies, and banks. Organizations are no longer defined by their industries. They are defined by the value they contribute to interconnected ecosystems.

Unlocking Indonesia’s MSME Potential

Nowhere is this transformation more significant than for Indonesia’s micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). For decades, Indonesian MSMEs have faced a similar challenge. Building products is difficult. Finding customers is even more difficult. Many entrepreneurs are capable of producing high-quality products. Many possess deep local knowledge. Many serve niche markets with unique competitive advantages.

Yet reaching customers at scale requires substantial investment in marketing, digital commerce, payment integration, logistics, customer acquisition, and technology. For many MSMEs, these barriers remain prohibitively expensive. Consequently, market access rather than product quality becomes the primary limitation to growth. Public Digital Infrastructure fundamentally changes this equation.

Instead of asking every MSME to build its own digital marketplace, PDI allows them to participate in an existing national digital ecosystem. Their products become discoverable through multiple buyer applications. Banks. Telecommunications companies. Retail applications. Government procurement systems. Cooperatives. Corporate purchasing platforms. Educational institutions. Healthcare providers. And future buyer applications that have not yet been imagined. Instead of investing heavily to attract customers, MSMEs gain access to customers who already exist. The economics of digital commerce change completely. Customer acquisition costs decline. Market reach expands. Innovation becomes more accessible.

Competition increasingly shifts toward product quality and service excellence rather than marketing budgets. This may become one of the largest structural benefits of Public Digital Infrastructure.

Agriculture: Connecting Farmers Directly to Markets

Indonesia’s agricultural sector provides another compelling example. Millions of Indonesian farmers produce valuable commodities. Yet many continue to face fragmented supply chains, limited market information, and dependence on multiple intermediaries. Digital platforms have attempted to improve agricultural commerce. 

Some have achieved encouraging results. However, most remain isolated ecosystems with limited interoperability. Public Digital Infrastructure offers a broader possibility. Farmers, cooperatives, distributors, logistics companies, banks, insurers, exporters, retailers, and food manufacturers can all participate within the same digital ecosystem while continuing to operate independently.

Banks can provide financing based on verified transaction histories. Insurance products can be embedded within agricultural transactions. Logistics providers can coordinate delivery more efficiently. Food manufacturers gain greater visibility into supply availability. Consumers benefit from shorter supply chains. The value created extends far beyond digital commerce. It contributes to food security, rural economic development, and financial inclusion.

Healthcare, Education, and Public Services

The same principles apply across social sectors. Healthcare providers increasingly operate within complex ecosystems involving insurers, pharmacies, laboratories, financial institutions, logistics providers, employers, and government agencies. Education similarly extends beyond universities. Learning increasingly involves professional certification, online education, employer partnerships, financing, and lifelong skills development.

Public Digital Infrastructure allows these sectors to collaborate without requiring every institution to establish hundreds of separate integrations. Instead of creating isolated digital services, institutions become participants in a connected national ecosystem. This has important implications for public services as well. Government agencies can interact more effectively with financial institutions, businesses, educational organizations, and healthcare providers through interoperable digital infrastructure. Public services become easier to access. Private innovation becomes easier to integrate. Citizens experience a more connected digital economy.

Indonesia Can Build a Truly Inclusive Digital Economy

One of the greatest promises of Public Digital Infrastructure is inclusiveness. Historically, participation in digital commerce often favored large organizations capable of investing heavily in technology, marketing, and ecosystem development. Smaller organizations faced higher barriers.

Public Digital Infrastructure lowers those barriers. Participation becomes less dependent on organizational size. Innovation becomes less dependent on capital. Opportunities become more widely distributed. This is particularly important for Indonesia. As one of the world’s largest archipelagic nations, Indonesia’s economic strength lies not only in Jakarta or other major metropolitan areas. Its strength lies in thousands of local economies spread across hundreds of cities and regencies. Digital infrastructure should therefore enable participation from all regions rather than concentrating opportunities within a limited number of digital platforms. An open digital ecosystem creates precisely that possibility.

Toward an Indonesian Digital Economic Architecture

The discussion about Public Digital Infrastructure should therefore move beyond technology. The more important question is: What kind of digital economy does Indonesia want to build? Does Indonesia want an economy where organizations continue constructing isolated digital ecosystems? Or does it want an economy where innovation can flow across industries through common digital infrastructure? The answer will shape Indonesia’s competitiveness for decades. Learning from India’s ONDC is not simply about adopting an open commerce network. It is about understanding how national digital infrastructure can become a catalyst for economic transformation.

Indonesia possesses all the essential ingredients. A digitally connected population. A strong banking system. Rapidly growing digital payments. Dynamic technology companies. World-class entrepreneurs. Supportive government institutions. An increasingly mature regulatory environment. What remains is connecting these strengths into one interoperable ecosystem. That is the true promise of Public Digital Infrastructure. Not replacing markets. Not replacing private innovation. But enabling every participant—from the largest bank to the smallest village enterprise—to contribute to, and benefit from, Indonesia’s next digital economy.

History teaches us that nations become prosperous not because they create the largest number of companies, but because they build the infrastructure that allows millions of companies to grow together. In the twenty-first century, Public Digital Infrastructure may become exactly that infrastructure. For Indonesia, the opportunity is not simply to participate in the digital economy. It is to help define what the next generation of the digital economy will look like.

From Public Digital Infrastructure to National Competitiveness

Throughout history, nations have achieved sustained economic growth not merely because they possessed abundant natural resources or advanced technologies, but because they invested in the infrastructure that enabled economic activity to flourish.

During the nineteenth century, railways transformed commerce by connecting producers with markets. During the twentieth century, highways, seaports, airports, electricity, and telecommunications became the foundations upon which industrial economies were built. No company could have constructed these infrastructures alone. They became public assets that enabled private innovation. The twenty-first century is witnessing another infrastructure revolution. This time, the infrastructure is digital. Yet it is important to distinguish between digital infrastructure and Public Digital Infrastructure. The two are often treated as interchangeable. They are not.

Digital infrastructure refers to the technological foundations of the digital economy—broadband networks, cloud computing, data centers, artificial intelligence platforms, cybersecurity, and computing capacity. These technologies enable organizations to digitize their operations. Public Digital Infrastructure serves a different purpose. It enables the economy itself. Rather than supporting individual organizations, it enables interactions between organizations. It creates trusted environments where businesses, financial institutions, governments, logistics providers, and consumers can collaborate through common standards, interoperable protocols, and shared governance.

Digital infrastructure improves technology. Public Digital Infrastructure improves markets. This distinction may ultimately become one of the defining characteristics of the next generation of economic development.

Infrastructure Creates Markets That Individual Companies Cannot

History consistently demonstrates that infrastructure rarely competes with private enterprise. Instead, it expands the opportunities available to everyone. A highway does not compete with logistics companies. It allows thousands of logistics companies to operate more efficiently. An airport does not compete with airlines. It enables aviation markets to grow. The Internet did not replace businesses. It created millions of new businesses that previously could not exist. Public Digital Infrastructure follows exactly the same economic principle. Its purpose is not to create another digital platform.

Its purpose is to create an environment where thousands of digital platforms, buyer applications, seller applications, financial institutions, and technology companies can innovate simultaneously. This changes the role of government. Rather than selecting winners, governments build the conditions under which many winners can emerge. This changes the role of industry. Rather than competing through proprietary infrastructure, organizations compete through innovation, customer experience, operational excellence, and entirely new business models. That is a far healthier and more sustainable foundation for long-term economic growth.

Indonesia Has an Opportunity Beyond Adoption

Much of the current discussion frames Indonesia as a country that can adopt lessons from India’s ONDC. That perspective is correct—but incomplete.

Indonesia’s ambition should not simply be to become another country implementing Public Digital Infrastructure. Indonesia has the opportunity to become the world’s second reference implementation.

This distinction matters. The first implementation demonstrates that a concept is possible. The second implementation demonstrates that the concept is transferable across different economic structures, regulatory environments, institutional arrangements, and market characteristics. If India proved that an open digital commerce network could work within one of the world’s largest economies, Indonesia can demonstrate that the same principles can be successfully adapted to a different national context—one characterized by an archipelagic geography, a highly digital banking sector, interoperable payment infrastructure, and one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing digital economies.

In doing so, Indonesia would contribute not merely to its own economic development but to the global evolution of Public Digital Infrastructure itself. Indonesia should therefore not aspire to become the second adopter. It should aspire to become the second global reference.

From Indonesia to ASEAN

The implications extend beyond Indonesia. ASEAN represents one of the world’s fastest-growing digital regions. Its member states differ considerably in economic development, regulatory maturity, industrial structure, and digital readiness. Yet they share a common aspiration: building a more connected regional digital economy. Indonesia occupies a unique strategic position. As ASEAN’s largest economy and one of its most advanced digital markets, Indonesia has the opportunity to demonstrate how Public Digital Infrastructure can support not only national digital transformation but also regional interoperability.

Future collaboration may extend beyond commerce. Financial services. Cross-border payments. Trade financing. Tourism. Education. Healthcare. Logistics. Supply chains. Government services. The successful implementation of Public Digital Infrastructure in Indonesia could therefore provide an important reference model for regional cooperation across Southeast Asia. Rather than importing digital architectures developed elsewhere, ASEAN would have the opportunity to build upon innovations developed within its own region.

A Contribution to the Global South

The significance of Indonesia-India cooperation extends even further. Many emerging economies face similar structural challenges. Large populations. Rapid urbanization. Growing digital adoption. Strong entrepreneurial ecosystems. Large MSME sectors. Uneven infrastructure. Limited interoperability. Fragmented digital ecosystems.

These countries do not necessarily require another global digital platform. What they require is shared digital infrastructure that enables their own businesses to innovate. In this respect, collaboration between Indonesia and India carries significance far beyond bilateral relations. It offers a model of cooperation among emerging economies. A model based not on dependence, but on shared learning. Not on technology exports, but on knowledge exchange. Not on importing finished solutions, but on co-creating new ones.

This represents a different philosophy of digital development—one in which countries collaborate to build common foundations while preserving national priorities and local innovation. Such an approach may become increasingly important as more countries seek digital sovereignty without sacrificing interoperability.

The Real Value of the Indonesia–India Partnership

The forthcoming cooperation between Indonesia and India should therefore not be measured solely by the number of agreements signed or technology projects initiated. Its long-term value lies elsewhere. It lies in accelerating Indonesia’s journey toward a more open, innovative, and collaborative digital economy. India contributes implementation experience accumulated through years of experimentation. Indonesia contributes a dynamic financial sector, successful digital payment infrastructure, strong government commitment, entrepreneurial energy, and one of the largest consumer markets in Asia.

Together, these complementary strengths create an opportunity that neither country could fully realize alone. More importantly, this partnership demonstrates an important principle. In the digital age, the most valuable asset countries can exchange is no longer technology. It is experience. Technology eventually becomes obsolete. Knowledge compounds. Every lesson learned reduces uncertainty. Every implementation experience lowers future costs. Every successful adaptation expands the possibilities for others. That is precisely why collaboration matters.

Conclusion

The future of Indonesia’s digital economy will not be determined simply by how many mobile applications are developed, how much artificial intelligence is deployed, or how many digital services become available. Those achievements, while important, represent only the visible layer of transformation.

The deeper transformation lies in the invisible infrastructure that enables organizations to collaborate, innovate, and create entirely new business models. Public Digital Infrastructure represents that invisible foundation. It enables banks to evolve beyond financial services. It enables telecommunications companies to become digital ecosystems. It enables MSMEs to reach national markets. It enables governments to foster innovation without dictating it.

And ultimately, it enables economic growth that is driven by collaboration rather than fragmentation. The state visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Indonesia in July 2026 therefore represents more than an important diplomatic occasion. It presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to establish a strategic partnership that could shape the architecture of Indonesia’s digital economy for decades to come.

History rarely remembers the companies that first used a highway. It remembers the nations that built the highway. Likewise, history is unlikely to remember Public Digital Infrastructure as merely another technology initiative. It will remember it as the digital equivalent of highways, ports, electricity, and the Internet—foundational infrastructure upon which future economies are built.

Indonesia now stands at a unique moment in its digital journey. The country does not need to reinvent what has already been learned. Nor should it simply replicate what has already been built. Its opportunity is far greater. To learn. To adapt. To improve. And ultimately, to become a global reference for how Public Digital Infrastructure can unlock new business models, strengthen national competitiveness, and shape the next generation of the digital economy.

About the Author

Dr. Bayu Prawira Hie is a digital banking, artificial intelligence and financial technology expert. He advises financial institutions and technology companies on digital transformation, AI adoption, digital public infrastructure and the future of financial services in Indonesia.