‘Everybody should have digital ID, bank account & smartphone; tools of the New World’: IMF Spring Meetings

India’s digital ID architect tells an IMF panel that everybody should have a digital ID, a bank account, and a smartphone as they are the “tools of the New World” for digital public infrastructure.

Speaking on a panel about Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) during the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Spring Meetings on April 14, Infosys co-founder and ex-chair of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), Nandan Nilekani, said that in order for nations to build out their DPI, they will need three things.

“If you think, ‘what are the tools of the New World?‘ — Everybody should have a digital ID; everybody should have a bank account; everybody should have a smartphone,” said Nilekani.

“Then, anything can be done. Everything else is built on that.”

Moderator and CNN International anchor Julia Chatterley concurred with Nilekani, saying:

“The three basic things: a smartphone, a bank account, and a digital ID — that’s where every nation has to begin.”

“Everybody should have a digital ID; everybody should have a bank account; everybody should have a smartphone” — Nandan Nilekani, IMF Spring Meetings, 2023

A digital identity encompasses just about everything that makes you unique in the digital realm, including your behavior.