Kunal Shah Explains Why India’s UPI And Digital Stack Are Ahead Of The World

As Kunal Shah returns to the spotlight as the CEO of WhatsApp, we are revisiting this archive excerpt from an interview originally recorded in September 2023. Before taking on the leadership role at WhatsApp, Shah was widely known as the founder of CRED and one of India's most prominent fintech entrepreneurs.

In this conversation, Shah shares his views on India's digital transformation, explaining why he believed India's digital public infrastructure—including UPI, Aadhaar and India Stack—was ahead of many comparable systems around the world.

Comparing India's progress with global digital identity and payment platforms such as Brazil's Pix, Singapore's Singpass, Estonia's X-Road and the UK's Open Banking framework, Shah argues that India had built a unique foundation that positioned it as a global leader in digital innovation. He also discusses how the pandemic accelerated digital adoption and why other countries were increasingly looking to India's model for inspiration.

This archive conversation offers a fascinating look back at Shah's assessment of India's digital future, the country's technological advantage and why he believed the rest of the world would increasingly learn from the India story.

Interview originally recorded in September 2023.