Digital Public Infrastructure and Enterprise Digitalisation: Transforming the Indian MSME Ecosystem

Abstract

Digital public infrastructure (DPI) is increasingly relevant to enterprise digitalisation in India because it provides shared digital rails for identity and verification, payments, data exchange, commerce, formalisation, procurement, receivables finance and dispute handling. Yet platform scale should not be confused with enterprise transformation. This paper presents a structured desk review of how selected Indian digital rails can enable micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), while identifying the capability, trust and institutional conditions that shape actual use. The review draws on primary regulatory and government sources, an MSME-sector report, and recent MSME digitalisation evidence. The analysis finds that Udyam and Udyam Assist can reduce the administrative burden of formal recognition; Account Aggregator arrangements create a consent-governed financial-data architecture; TReDS supports the financing of eligible receivables; and ONDC and GeM can widen digital market access. However, these systems do not automatically generate productivity, revenue or credit gains. Their effects depend on enterprise readiness, service quality, local support, digital skills, connectivity, data protection and commercially viable use cases. The paper proposes an original framework in which DPI access and awareness influence MSME adoption capability, depth of business-process integration and reported outcomes. It recommends an assisted, outcome-oriented approach to enterprise digitalisation that measures sustained use and inclusion rather than registrations or transactions alone.