Digital India Programme 2015: Connecting Every Corner of the Country

Policy Update

Meyhar Kaur Walia

With each passing era, human advancements in knowledge and innovation lay the foundation for the next generation. Information and technology are undeniably linked concepts, offering solutions to the challenges that we face in the contemporary world. The Digital India Programme is a flagship programme launched on 1st July 2015 by the Government of India, under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). With its vision of “Transforming e-Governance for Transforming Governance”, it aims to transform the nation into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. The programme is designed to ensure that the government services are readily available to everyone, especially to the poor and downtrodden people, through electronic means. The Digital India Programme has been laid out in a structure that creates digital infrastructure, digital delivery of government services, and increases digital literacy across the country. 

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The Government of India has been providing its citizens with e-governance, i.e. the use of technology by government agencies to improve services and citizen interaction, since the mid-90s. The early initiatives taken did not bring any substantial transformation in the economy. So, the government came up with the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) in 2006 to achieve the digitalisation of several government sectors, but the progress has not been remarkable. The Digital India Programme was then introduced to remove the limitations faced by the earlier NeGP, such as fragmented implementation, poor infrastructure and low digital literacy, and to speed up the process of digitising the government through a more integrated approach. 

Functioning:

Digital India Programme is an all-inclusive programme, covering various ministries and departments of the government. It requires coordinated collaboration among the departments and ministries, with the support of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to enhance digital initiatives such as Aadhaar, DigiLocker, UPI, etc. While MietY directly manages these platforms, the programme also helps facilitate other government schemes, such as PM Kisan (Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare), MGNREGA (Ministry of Rural Development), etc. 

 The programme is based on the following nine pillars:

  1. Broadband highways: All three sub-components, namely Broadband for All Rural, Broadband for All Urban, and National Information Infrastructure (NII), are covered under the Digital India Programme. The BharatNet project, implemented by the Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL), aims to provide last-mile broadband connectivity to Gram Panchayats. As of October 2024, 2,14,283 Gram panchayats are service-ready. 
  2. Universal access to mobile connectivity: This pillar focuses on providing access to everyone through network penetration and filling the gaps in network coverage in the country.
  3. Public internet access programme: The two components of this programme are Common Service Centres (CSCs) and Post Offices as multi-service centres, i.e. they serve as access points for various services like Aadhaar registration, PAN card applications, banking, and thereby promoting digital literacy. 
  4. E-governance: In reforming government through technology, it is essential to simplify and integrate the government processes to improve efficiency and transparency. 
  5. E-kranti: Electronic delivery of services, this initiative covers several Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) across sectors like education, health, justice, financial inclusion, etc.
  6. Information for all: The Open Data platform and online hosting of information would facilitate easy access to information for its citizens. Regular interactions of government with citizens are essential, and web-based platforms like MyGov have been launched as a medium for such engagement.
  7. Electronics manufacturing: Through this pillar, the target of achieving ‘Net Zero’ imports reflects a striking intent. Electronic equipment is the basic requirement for the success of the programme, and manufacturing indigenous technology is crucial to attract investments and reduce dependency on imports. 
  8. IT for jobs: The aim is to provide training to youth in IT (Information Technology) to enhance their employability skills. Its components focus on training students, setting up Business Process Outsourcing services (BPOs), training delivery agents, and providing training to the rural workforce. 
  9. Early harvest programmes: These are the projects implemented for quick digital transformation results, like biometric attendance, wi-fi in all universities, etc. 

In 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his address at the India Mobile Congress (IMC), introduced a streamlined focus on four pillars, namely:

  1. Lower prices of devices.
  2. Ensure digital connectivity across the country.
  3. Make data accessible to everyone.
  4. Establish ‘digital first’ as a national goal.

He emphasized the broader implications of Digital India and that these pillars aim to democratise digital technology. 

Achievements:

With a population of 1.46 billion, India’s digital population has surged to 806 million users as of February 2025.

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Digital Population across India as of February 2025

Source: Statista

The present status of some of the key initiatives undertaken by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) under the Digital India Programme is as follows:

Digital Public Infrastructure refers to digital systems that are accessible and support public services. Key achievements include:

  1. Aadhaar: It provides a 12-digit biometric and demographic-based unique identification number, issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and has eliminated fake identities. As of 2024, 138.34 crore Aadhaar numbers have been generated. Aadhaar, though launched before Digital India, was later adopted as a core component and integrated into various schemes as a digital identity proof in platforms such as DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer), e-KYC (electronic Know Your Customer), etc.
  2. Unified Payment Interface (UPI): It is the leading digital payment platform developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) under the guidance of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and MeitY.  As of 30 June 2024, it has enabled 24,100 crore financial transactions. As of December 2024, 641 banks are live on UPI.
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Image: Number of Live Banks as of December 2024

Source: Press Information Bureau (PIB)

  1. DigiLocker: It is a secure, cloud-based digitization service that provides a platform for issuers to store their important documents in the digital repositories. As of 2024, it has facilitated more than 37 crore users and made available 776 crore issued documents.
  2. Common Service Centres (CSCs): This initiative has played an important role in bringing digital services to rural areas. As of October 2024, more than 5.84 lakh CSCs are functional across the country, including 4.63 lakh at the gram panchayats.
  3. Digital Services:
  • Unified Mobile Application for New-Age Governance (UMANG): It is a mobile app that integrates services from various sectors, like agriculture, education, health, etc. UMANG has provided a unified platform for easy availing of government services. With over 7 crore users, UMANG offers around 2077 services from 207 departments of the Central and State governments across 32 States/UTs.
  • MeriPehchaan: It is a National Single Sign-On (SSO) platform launched in July 2022 to provide citizens with easy access to government portals using a single set of credentials. Over 132 crore transactions have been processed on this platform, reducing the complexities of managing multiple accounts and their credentials.
  • e-Sign (e-Hastakshar): It enables citizens to digitally sign documents in a legally accepted alternative to physical signatures. A total of 81.97 crore signatures have been issued by all Electronic Service Providers (ESPs), of which 19.35 crore were issued by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) under the e-Hastakshar project.
  • API Setu: It facilitates the implementation of open Application Programming Interface (API) policy, to enable data exchange and service delivery across government systems. More than 6000 APIs have been published, including entities such as PAN, Driving License, COVID vaccination certificate, etc. 
  • MyGov: It is a citizen engagement platform that is developed to align with the objective of participatory governance. It has over 4.809 crore registered users, fostering transparency in governance. 

Internet connections increased from 25.15 crore in March 2014 to 96.96 crore in June 2024, with broadband connections increasing from 6.1 crore in March 2014 to 94.92 crore in August 2024. 

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Image: Total number of internet connections as of June 2024

Source: Press Information Bureau (PIB)

Under the broad umbrella of Digital India Programme, some of the milestone initiatives include the launch of the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA) in 2018 to make 6 crore people in rural areas digitally literate, the joining of ‘AarogyaSetu’ app with Digital India for the health and well-being of every Indian. The Digital India Programme includes many other initiatives, such as the Online Registration System (ORS) that facilitated booking over 68 lakh appointments, the National Centre of Geo-informatics (NCoG) project, e-District with over 4000 e-services launched in over 700 districts across India, etc. These efforts continue to transform the digital infrastructure in India.

Challenges:

Despite its ambitious purpose, Digital India still faces significant obstacles, especially in remote areas. The barriers differ from sector to sector, reflecting the vast complexities of the programme. Some of the key challenges are:

  1. Digital illiteracy: A survey conducted between 2022-23 by National Statistical Office (NSO) under its Comprehensive Annual Modular Survey (CAMS) has revealed that only 26.8% of youth aged between 15-24, 28.5% of those aged between 15-29, and 25% of those aged 15 years and above can showcase digital skills. It also revealed that 78.4% of persons aged 15-24 years can perform the skill of ‘sending messages (e-mail/SMS, etc) with attached files’. This inadequate knowledge of digital skills is detrimental to the success of the Digital India Programme as a whole. 
  2. Cyber security: The risks of cyber threats like data breaches, malware attacks, etc remain high with the adoption of rapid digitalization. There are cyber threats all over the world and digital India is no exception. In India, high-value cyber fraud cases have jumped more than four times in 2024, causing losses of $20 million. 
  3. Connectivity to remote areas: The problem of connectivity with each and every village is a complex issue as different states have different laws and procedures. In Odisha, 2603 villagers across 167 blocks lack mobile network services and 10 panchayats lack broadband connectivity. It also becomes challenging for the central authorities to create a database that can manage a huge amount of information.
  4. Lack of departmental coordination: This remains a challenge, as the absence of integration of various departments leads to duplication. Effective implementation of the programme requires a strong collaboration among the departments to ensure a smooth execution.
  5. E-waste: As the country is adopting digital technologies, the generation of e-waste is growing rapidly. In 2019-20, 10.14 lakh tonnes of e-waste were generated, with the figures increasing to 17.51 lakh tonnes in 2023-24, signalling a 72% increase. Generation of e-waste is a hurdle to the Digital India Programme as the nation moves towards digitalizing its society and economy. 

Way Forward:

With an unparalleled advancement, the Indian economy has been digitalised over the last decade. According to the 2024 report of State of India’s Digital Economy (SIDE), in terms of economy-wide digitalization, India ranks as the third largest digitalised country in the world, and 12th among the G20 countries in terms of digitalisation of individual users. By 2029-30, India’s digital economy is expected to grow almost twice as fast as India’s overall GDP, and contribute nearly one-fifth of the national income. 

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has launched several schemes to support tech startups. These include Technology Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurs (TIDE 2.0) scheme to promote tech entrepreneurship by providing financial and technical support to incubators that support startups using emerging technologies such as AI, Block-chain, Robotics, etc. Other schemes include Startup Accelerator Programme of MeitY for Product Innovation, Development and Growth (SAMRIDH) to accelerate the scale of software product-based startups, Gen-Next Support for Innovative Startups (GENESIS) to support startups in tier II and tier III cities, etc.

As part of the 2020-21 union budget, the Digital India Programme was extended for five more years, with an outlay of Rs 14,904 crore from 2021-22 to 2025-26. This would lead to major developments, including, 540 additional services under the UMANG app, 1200 startups will be supported in tier 2/3 cities, facility of digital document verification under DigiLocker for MSMEs, Bhashini i.e. a multilingual translation tool will be rolled out in all 22 languages in the 8th schedule, modernisation of the National Knowledge Network (NKN) which connects more than 1700 educational institutions, new initiatives for enhancing cyber security with integration of over 200 sites with National Cyber Coordination Centre, etc.

The Digital India Programme is a huge stepping stone for our country, and its outgrowth is visible in our day-to-day lives. It has navigated cutting-edge technologies like cloud computing and Artificial Intelligence (AI) through the launch of schemes such as UPI and Aadhaar, building on the pillars of innovation, transparency and connectivity. The collaboration of various ministries and departments has paved the way for a digitally enabled society and the cultivation of socio-economic growth. While there is a need to address its challenges, the programme stays focused on empowering every citizen and ensuring that its full potential is realized. 

References:

  • ANJALI, A. (2018). DIGITAL INDIA: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES [Journal-article]. International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts, 6(2), 619–621. https://www.ijcrt.org

About the Contributor: Meyhar Kaur Walia is a Research Intern at IMPRI and is pursuing her undergraduate degree in Political Science from Delhi University. 

Acknowledgement: The author expresses sincere gratitude to all those who provided guidance, with special thanks to Dr Arjun Kumar and Ma’am Aasthaba Jadeja. 

Disclaimer: All views expressed in the article belong solely to the author and not necessarily to the organisation.

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