SparX by Mukesh Bansal Tech Expert: India Did What US & China Couldn’t Do it in decades! | Mukesh Bansal | SparX
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Sep 6, 2025 In a compelling conversation, Sharad Sharma, a technology policy expert and key architect of Aadhaar and UPI, shares his journey from corporate success to nation building. He emphasizes India's potential to capitalize on deep tech and innovation to evade dependency on global powers. The discussion dives into the origins of India Stack, the scaling of UPI, and the pressing need for robust R&D ecosystems. Sharma highlights the necessity for new research institutions and the importance of tailored AI solutions to foster India's unique path towards growth.
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Journaling Sparked A Career Pivot
- Sharad started journaling at 40 which triggered a life change toward ecosystem work and nation-building.
- He shifted from corporate success to volunteering and ecosystem creation around 2009 to help entrepreneurs thrive.
Modular Building Blocks Enable Scale
- India Stack was designed as loosely coupled building blocks to enable combinatorial innovation at scale.
- That modular design allowed independent evolution of Aadhaar, eSign, DigiLocker and UPI and eased broad adoption.
UPI Born From A Street Vendor Problem
- UPI's origin was tied to solving micro-loans for a street vendor and envisioned payments as a mostly-free public utility.
- Early adopters varied: some startups ignored it, Razorpay slowed due to Mastercard pressure, while PhonePe and others later scaled it.
