Digital transformation in a large democracy: the case of India

This article examines India’s ambitious digital transformation program that has sustained over the last decade. The digital transformation effort started around 2009 with the creation of the digital identity program and continues until now with additional layers of digital payments, data empowerment architecture, open network for digital commerce, and several others. Using the interpretive narrative approach, we examine the empirical case of three core digital transformation initiatives commonly referred to as the India Stack: (1) Aadhar–the digital identity system, (2) Unified Payment Interface–the digital payment infrastructure, and (3) Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture–a data sharing architecture. Our findings suggest that institutional leadership and stakeholder co-production are the main drivers behind the success of digital transformation in India. The leadership provided the sustained vision, institutional continuity, and the legal and regulatory framework for digital transformation initiatives. Stakeholder partnerships from across public, private, and non-profit agencies were crucial to the design and delivery of the program. This study offers theoretical insights and practical lessons for scholars and practitioners alike for how a large-scale digital transformation is implemented and sustained in a complex environment.