Media365
Indonesia is preparing to become the latest country to integrate with India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), but digital payments are only one part of a much bigger plan. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi begins his visit to Jakarta on Monday, Indonesia is looking to adopt India’s wider digital public infrastructure (DPI) model while simultaneously deepening defence ties that could reshape the strategic balance in Southeast Asia.
According to a report by The Times of India, digital cooperation and defence are expected to be among the defining pillars of Modi’s visit, highlighting India’s growing influence as both a technology and security partner in the Indo-Pacific.
Unlike countries such as Singapore, France and the United Arab Emirates, which primarily adopted UPI to facilitate payments for Indian travellers, Indonesia wants to replicate the broader ecosystem that powers India’s digital economy, the report said.
That includes interoperable platforms for digital payments, digital commerce, public services and governance — an architecture that Jakarta hopes can eventually serve as a model for the wider ASEAN region.
UPI is only the first step
At the heart of the partnership is the proposed linkage between India’s UPI and Indonesia’s Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard (QRIS), allowing consumers and merchants in both countries to make seamless cross-border digital payments, the report said.
The payments corridor is expected to benefit businesses, merchants and the nearly 1.7 million Indian tourists who visit Indonesia annually, particularly Bali, by simplifying transactions and lowering payment costs.
However, the report said Indonesia’s ambitions extend much further.
The country is developing the Indonesia Open Network (ION), an open digital commerce platform inspired by India’s Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). Like ONDC, ION seeks to create an interoperable digital marketplace where buyers and sellers are not locked into a handful of dominant platforms.
More broadly, Indonesia sees India’s digital public infrastructure as a blueprint for building sovereign digital systems that improve governance while reducing dependence on proprietary technology platforms.
Learning from India’s public policy successes
Indonesia has also been studying several of India’s flagship governance programmes as it seeks to strengthen food security, agriculture and healthcare delivery.
According to officials cited by The Times of India, Indonesian delegations have visited India to examine initiatives such as the Public Distribution System (PDS), AgriStack, rice fortification programmes, fertiliser subsidy reforms, PM POSHAN and the Jan Aushadhi scheme.
“From food security and digital governance to healthcare, agriculture and defence, India’s successful public policy models are becoming valuable reference points for Indonesia’s own development journey,” an official told the newspaper.
Indonesia’s Free Nutritious Meals programme has drawn inspiration from India’s PM POSHAN school meals initiative, while its Red and White Village Cooperatives programme is exploring India’s Jan Aushadhi model to expand access to affordable medicines in rural areas.
The growing collaboration reflects India’s increasing role as an exporter not only of technology but also of governance frameworks that combine digital infrastructure with public service delivery.
Defence ties could create a ‘BrahMos belt’
Alongside digital cooperation, defence is expected to be another major outcome of Modi’s visit.
A potential agreement for Indonesia to acquire India’s BrahMos supersonic cruise missile has attracted particular attention because of its wider strategic implications.
According to The Economic Times, if the deal is finalised, Indonesia would become the third Southeast Asian country after the Philippines and Vietnam to deploy the BrahMos missile system. Malaysia and Thailand have also reportedly expressed interest.
Rather than representing isolated defence exports, these sales could gradually create what analysts describe as a “BrahMos belt” stretching across Southeast Asia.
Such a network of coastal missile batteries would strengthen the ability of regional countries to deter hostile naval movements in the strategically important South China Sea without needing to match larger naval powers ship for ship.
Why the South China Sea matters
The South China Sea is among the world’s busiest maritime trade routes, carrying trillions of dollars worth of global commerce every year. It is also the focus of competing territorial claims involving China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and several other countries.
Over the past decade, China has significantly expanded its military presence by constructing artificial islands, strengthening military infrastructure and deploying advanced naval and coast guard assets.
For many Southeast Asian countries, the challenge has been finding credible ways to deter a much larger military force.
The BrahMos missile changes that equation by providing a long-range, high-speed coastal defence capability capable of threatening large naval vessels operating in contested waters.
Travelling at nearly three times the speed of sound, BrahMos significantly reduces an adversary’s reaction time while allowing coastal states to exploit geography to defend strategic waterways and chokepoints.
For New Delhi, the significance extends well beyond defence exports.
Every BrahMos sale creates long-term military partnerships involving training, maintenance, logistics and operational support, deepening India’s defence relationships across the Indo-Pacific.
At the same time, India’s digital public infrastructure offers Southeast Asian countries an alternative development model based on open, interoperable platforms rather than closed proprietary ecosystems.
Together, the twin pillars of digital cooperation and defence exports reinforce India’s position as a resident Indo-Pacific power while giving regional countries greater strategic autonomy at a time of intensifying geopolitical competition.
With Modi’s visit expected to advance both agendas, India is increasingly exporting not just products such as UPI and BrahMos, but an entire framework for economic development, digital governance and regional security.
With inputs from agencies.
