Mapping the architecture of India's digital public infrastructure, one layer at a time.
We are an independent editorial desk chronicling the platforms, policies and people building the world's largest digital stack — from UPI rails and Aadhaar to the next generation of state-led innovation.
Founded to make the digital stack legible.
DgTal India began in 2022 as a small newsletter for policy researchers, founders and journalists who needed a clear, neutral view of how India's digital public infrastructure was evolving — beyond the press releases.
India's DPI — UPI, Aadhaar, ONDC, Account Aggregator, DigiLocker, CoWIN, e-Shram — has scaled faster than any comparable infrastructure in history. Yet coverage of the stack has long been fragmented across government communiqués, vendor blogs and conference panels. Something was missing: a single, well-sourced, independent reading room.
That is what we built. DgTal India tracks the policies, products, partnerships and people shaping the stack, and translates them into clear analysis for decision-makers across government, industry, academia and civil society. Our editorial lens is infrastructure-first: we treat India's digital platforms the way a transport reporter treats highways — with attention to capacity, governance, safety and the users left behind.
Today, our reporting reaches over 180,000 monthly readers across 90+ countries, and our research is cited in parliamentary submissions, regulator consultations and academic syllabi. We remain a small, fiercely independent team — funded by reader subscriptions and foundation grants, with no advertising and no paid placements.
Three commitments that shape every story we publish.
Our editorial charter is short on purpose. These are the principles our reporters, editors and reviewers are held to — and that our readers can hold us to.
Independence above access
We accept no advertising, no sponsored editorial and no paid placements. When we cover a company, ministry or programme, our reporting is not for sale — and our readers know it. Our funding model is public.
Infrastructure, not hype
We treat India's digital stack as critical national infrastructure — and we cover it that way. That means attention to governance, failure modes, edge cases, exclusion risks and the small print of policy, not just launch announcements.
Sourcing you can audit
Every claim is sourced. Every interview is on the record unless explicitly protected. Our datasets, methodology notes and corrections log are public — so our readers can verify, challenge and extend our work.
The scale of our work, and the trust behind it.
How a DgTal India story gets made.
Our reporting process is built for accuracy, traceability and editorial independence. Here is the workflow every long-form piece passes through before it reaches you.
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1
Scoping & primary research
Each story begins with original document review — RTI responses, RFPs, parliamentary questions, regulator filings, white papers — triangulated with at least two independent sources before drafting begins.
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2
On-the-record interviews
Reporters conduct primary interviews with policymakers, engineers, operators and affected users. Anonymous sources are used sparingly and only when on-the-record reporting is genuinely blocked.
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3
Editorial & fact-check review
Every piece is reviewed by a second editor for accuracy, framing and sourcing. A dedicated fact-checker verifies numerical claims, quotes and links against primary documents.
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4
Public corrections log
Errors are corrected transparently at the top of the article, with timestamped notes explaining what changed and why. The full corrections log is open to all readers at /corrections.
The reporters, editors and researchers behind DgTal India.
A small, distributed newsroom with deep roots in Indian policy, technology and infrastructure journalism.
Ananya Mehra
Former policy fellow at the Takshashila Institution. Covers payments, identity and the RBI's digital infrastructure agenda.
Rohan Kapoor
Tracks ONDC, ONDC-like commerce rails and the open networks programme. Previously reported for Mint and The Ken.
Priya Subramanian
Builds the datasets behind our monthly stack trackers — UPI volumes, Aadhaar authentications, account aggregator flows.
Vikram Rao
Former MeitY staffer. Edits coverage of data protection, the DPDP Act, sectoral regulation and state-level DPI rollouts.
Read the work. Support the work.
DgTal India is reader-funded. A subscription keeps our reporting independent, our datasets public, and our corrections log open. Browse our latest analysis, or get in touch with the editorial team.