DPI to daily life: India’s AI pitch goes beyond code | India News
New Delhi: At the India AI Impact Summit 2026 that concluded this week, the buzz was not just about algorithms; It was about a fragrance. As the world’s tech elite gathered at the Bharat Mandapam to debate the “Fifth Industrial Revolution,” India took the opportunity to showcase its impressive Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) as a real, lifestyle experience.A big viral moment, in fact, happened away from the stage at the Bharat GI Coffee Experience Center. Union minister Ashwini Vaishnab’s Instagram feed has become a digital gallery of the strategy, with one reel captioned: “India GI, UPI, and AI: We are becoming a powerful product nation.”The post shows a high-tech “coffee stall” where Google CEO Sundar Pichai is seen sampling GI-tagged Malabar Arabica, paying through UPI and discussing AI-powered supply chains. The link between a cup of coffee and a unified payments interface (UPI and Geographical Indications (GI)) has proven that DPI is the “secret sauce” that allows AI to scale from high-tech labs to local street stalls, an organizer said.This “DPI-first” philosophy found its highest international resonance in Brazil, where during the summit, Brazilian President Lula da Silva and Prime Minister Narendra Modi forged a landmark bilateral partnership. Brazil is not only looking at India’s code, but also its philosophy; The two countries are working to connect India’s UPI with Brazil’s PIX and establish a Center of Excellence for DPI in Brazil.
