We employ a detailed analytic narrative of the emergence and evolution of India's digital public infrastructure (DPI) to extend the literature on transformation innovation policy (TIP), an emerging frame within innovation policy studies. TIP scholarship has identified four transformational failures - directionality, demand articulation, policy coordination and reflexivity - that need to be addressed when implementing such a policy. In this paper, we expand the domain of TIP and demonstrate the utility of adopting a TIP-in-practice approach through an in-depth case that explicates how an assemblage of actors crafted a TIP that addressed these failures. Our findings highlight the adroit deployment of social and political skills to ensure sustained support for the vision; a hybrid “private enterprise within public organization” coordination approach; a built solution that is simple, frugal and relevant to its users; and the use of an open systems, modular approach to platform development that enables continual change. Imbuing the TIP associated with India's DPI with these practices aided the formation of a national digital infrastructure that has transformed (and continues to transform) India's economy and polity. Our insights, developed through an exemplar from the Global South involving digital technologies, highlights vital ways in which TIP scholarship can be extended in scope and provides a field-based example of such policies in practice.
