Niti Aayog to launch countrywide UPI-like blockchain project

The Indian government will soon float a blockchain project that will function like the unified payments interface (UPI) platform, a report in Factor Daily said.

To bring the project to fruition, Niti Aayog, the government’s think tank, will release a blockchain policy paper early next month, which will look at how to best deploy the technology across the country, the report added, citing people in the know.

The think tank has been working on a number of blockchain use cases, for which it has been testing proof of concepts, but none of these are part of IndiaChain—the government’s initiative to develop a countrywide blockchain network. IndiaChain aims to reduce corruption and frauds and maximise the transparency of transactions, Factor Daily had reported last year. 

Niti Aayog had previously created proof of concepts for blockchain in education, health and agriculture. It was also looking at using the technology to curb the menace of fake drugs. 

Besides Niti Aayog, the Kerala government also expressed interest in using blockchain. Earlier this week, media reports stated that the Kerala Development and Innovation Strategic Council (K-DISC) will use the distributed ledger system to manage the purchase and distribution networks for milk, vegetables and fish. The technology is also expected to improve the southern state’s crop insurance system by quickly and efficiently settling claims for farmers. 

Last month, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said it was working on a project to integrate blockchain technology into the land registry process in India as part of efforts to make it more reliable. Currently, in the proof-of-concept stage, the project is being tested in the city of Panchkula in Haryana.