Digital Public Infrastructure Beyond India: Comparative Evidence from Brazil, Kenya, and the Philippines

Publication Details

Publication Date

10/10/2026

Volume / Issue

Vol 1, Issue 5 (2026)

Article No.

039

Journal

British Journal of Contemporary Research

DOI

https://doi.org/10.67693/BJCR-3UGNP67J

Received

15 Sep 2026

Views

62

Downloads

17

Abstract

While the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) concept is most often associated with the model of India’s Aadhaar, UPI, DBT (AUB) combination, similar and even bigger DPI experiments are taking place in other countries of the Global South. This paper draws comparisons based on the experience of the Pix payment system of Brazil, the mobile money market of Kenya, led by M-Pesa, and the PhilSys identification framework plus GCash/Maya e-wallets of the Philippines. With the use of publicly available information on transaction volumes, usage statistics, and inclusiveness metrics, the paper demonstrates that even though all three systems contributed greatly to fast increases in the number of digitized payments and formally registered users of financial services, gender, informality, and urban-rural divide remain structurally inherent to these systems rather than being merely transitional challenges. Comparison tables and charts illustrating the development of transaction volumes and gender/informality gaps in active use of DPI channels are presented below.

License

This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License . Free to read, share, and adapt with attribution.