Digital public infrastructure in India now enables millions of people to access financial services through new methods of interaction. UPI enabled users to make payments instantly and interoperably, and to access them across devices and institutions. Aadhar made identity verification easier, while DigiLocker and Account Aggregators created better ways to access digital documents and financial information. Together, they have drastically reduced friction and expanded financial inclusion at an unprecedented scale.UPI (Shutterstock)Today, anyone applying for a loan interacts with a fragmented network made up of separate environments for loan origination, underwriting, disbursement, servicing, and collection. Information is very rarely transferred smoothly across all stages of the loan process. The evaluation of risk occurs when loans are disbursed and often remains unchanged until repayment stress becomes visible. All these disconnections create inefficiencies for lenders and uncertainty for borrowers.Credit risk today is largely assessed at the point of loan origination, while borrower behavior and financial realities continue to evolve every day. Yet most lenders continue to rely on initial risk assessments until repayment stress becomes visibly apparent. By the time early warning signals surface, lenders are often already reacting late, leading to delayed interventions, inefficient collections, and higher credit costs.A missing connected infrastructure layer creates challenges for every step in the lending experience. Underwriting models are using inadequate or outdated data to make lending decisions. Servicing teams inherit accounts with limited visibility into borrowers. On the collections side, interventions are often triggered only after repayment stress becomes visible, rather than proactively identifying early warning signals through continuous monitoring of borrowers.The effect becomes most obvious for borrowers who have either minimal credit records or unpredictable income streams. Many individuals operating outside the formal economy struggle to present a complete financial picture, even when they have repayment intent and earning capacity. The result of this situation leads to higher borrowing costs and reduced access to formal credit for deserving borrowers.From the lenders' perspective, fragmented systems create additional operational expenses and credit losses. They have multiple integration points, disconnected data flows, and manual processes, which create inefficiencies and slow decision-making. Digital lending has seen tremendous growth, but the infrastructure to support this growth has not developed in parallel.The technology emerging in India has created new opportunities for a more connected credit stack. Account Aggregators are now providing consent-driven, real-time sharing of financial data across various institutions. The advent of API integration has enabled origination, bureau checks, servicing, and collections to communicate via standard interfaces. AI-based decision engines have evolved from one-time risk assessments into a continuous borrower evaluation.A modern credit infrastructure should enable lenders to continuously evaluate the risk associated with each borrower, rather than relying solely on historical snapshots. The system enables collections teams to detect stress patterns at an early stage and develop customised engagement methods which help them manage repayment challenges. Lastly, the creation of a more connected credit stack will provide greater transparency for borrowers and create a more seamless process for both repayment and servicing.When all components of lending are integrated into a unified system, credit will be even more efficient and accessible.UPI achieved success in creating shared rails that any institution could build upon. The interoperability, scalability, and real-time connectivity enabled by UPI are what make it valuable rather than a single application.The next phase of India's fintech evolution will be driven by building a connected infrastructure layer that brings together every stage of the credit lifecycle - from underwriting and servicing to monitoring and collections. A unified ecosystem can enable better risk visibility, proactive interventions, lower credit losses, and improved borrower experiences, while ultimately reducing the cost of capital for both retail and commercial borrowers with strong repayment capabilities.Responsible scaling of these technologies will be equally important as more institutions embrace AI-driven decision-making with real-time data processing. Governance, consent management, and operational transparency must remain key priorities.India has already demonstrated how public digital infrastructure can transform payments and financial access. Credit represents the next major opportunity. Building shared intelligent 'rails' for lending represents the next big opportunity to create a faster, more equitable, and more responsive lending system that will thrive in line with today's realities.(The views expressed are personal)This article is authored by Rishabh Goel, co-founder & CEO, Credgenics.