e-VidyaBharati–e-ArogyaBharati (e-VBAB) Project (2022–24)

Policy Updates
Himanshi Singh

Background

India’s development diplomacy in Africa is shifting from conventional approaches to emerging areas such as Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). India’s own DPI experiments, such as the biometric ID, instant payment system (UPI), and large-scale health management system (CoWIN), have provided experiential know-how for its development diplomacy in the Global South. India’s DPI interventions are modular, with India’s own Aadhaar/authentication infrastructure being an open standard for adoption in partner countries.

India’s experience with DPI has demonstrated remarkable results in its jurisdiction, with the percentage of the Indian population with formal bank accounts increasing from 25% (in 2008) to over 80% (as of 2023). During India’s G20 Presidency, this DPI-based development model has been endorsed by the United Nations and the World Bank as a transformative force for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

India’s DPI-based development model is being taken to its bilateral partners as well as to multilateral forums like the Global South Digital Public Infrastructure Alliance. Some key DPI-based projects being promoted by India are the e-VidyaBharati-e-ArogyaBharati (e-VBAB) project and Bharat Africa Setu. The e-VBAB project is the cloud-based and evolved version of the successful Pan-African e-Network Project (PAeNP) Phase-1, which was launched by India in 2009 and completed in 2017.

The PAeNP Phase-1 had connected 53 African countries through tele-education and telemedicine via satellite-based technology. The e-VBAB project, formally launched by the External Affairs Minister, Dr S. Jaishankar, in October 2019, is a web-based alternative to the satellite-based system in PAeNP Phase-1, enabling greater flexibility and adoption. By migrating to an open internet-based system, the Ministry of External Affairs has been able to democratise India’s educational and healthcare resources.

Functioning 

The governance and implementation of India-Africa digital cooperation take place through a multi-stakeholder approach. Overall, the e-VBAB project is steered by the MEA, while the actual implementation is handled by Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL) as a state-owned enterprise that signed an agreement with the Government of India in September 2018. In turn, the government allocated 15,000 scholarships for African students to pursue online undergraduate, postgraduate, diploma, and certificate courses at India’s best universities as a fully funded programme.

The programmatic framework of e-VBAB operates through two distinct web-based portals:

1. e-VidyaBharati (Tele-education): Accessible through the iLearn platform, this portal hosts over 300 courses across diverse academic disciplines, including computer science, business administration, commerce, humanities, and arts.
2. e-ArogyaBharati (Telemedicine): This wing facilitates Continuing Medical Education (CME) and clinical tele-consultations, linking healthcare practitioners at patient-end locations in Africa with specialists across 12 premier Indian super-speciality hospitals, including the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi.

Table 1: Key Policy Pillars of India’s DPI and Digital Outreach

Source: Aadhaar & MOSIP Websites

The transfer of technology is designed around open-source architecture, ensuring that partner states avoid vendor lock-in. A prime example of this is the Modular Open-Source Identity Platform (MOSIP), which has been embraced by nine African countries to implement cost-effective, sovereign digital identity registries.

Performance

Between 2022 and 2024, India-Africa digital cooperation has seen exponential growth. In education, the e-VBAB network’s bilateral base of scholarship students continues to grow. The number of African states participating in the e-VBAB scholarship programme is 22, and the programme fully funds the costs of training students in host countries. At the diplomatic level, in 2025, during the state visit of the President of India to Ghana, an agreement was signed on digital payments and standards, while Namibia is preparing to launch its own UPI-based local instant payment system.

As a result of the 2022-24 academic year, on May 16, 2024, the High Commission of India in Lilongwe announced the graduation of 110 Malawian students. Selected by the e-VBAB scholarship, they have received their undergraduate, postgraduate, and diploma certificates from Amity University Online. This milestone marks Malawi’s contribution of over 1,900 students in digital training through this programme.

Table 2: Performance Indicators of e-VBAB and Related Digital Projects (2022–2024)

Source: High Commission of India, Lilongwe press release, E-Vidya Bharati and E-Arogaya Bharati (e-VBAB) Graduation Ceremony, by the High Commission of India, Lilongwe, 2024

To complement online learning, the Indian government has established physical learning centres equipped with computers and high-speed internet in partner countries, including Guinea and at the NACIT Blantyre Campus in Malawi, to ensure that students can access learning platforms without local infrastructure barriers.

Impact

The value of the e-VBAB project is reflected in its contribution to the dissemination of India’s soft power through ‘non-reciprocal partnerships’ to produce human resources, rather than the capital-intensive or extractive development assistance. The e-VBAB project embodies India’s developmental philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world is one family), as elucidated by High Commissioner S. Gopalakrishnan, while addressing the 2024 graduation ceremony.

The provision of training in management, computer science, and healthcare will enable the African youth to gain the expertise necessary to contribute to their countries’ economic growth and productivity. Furthermore, the economic benefits of digital integration are substantial:

• Strategic Alternative: India’s open-source, affordable digital stack provides a trusted alternative to debt-heavy, closed-source models of infrastructure development.
• Commercial Integration: Streamlining payment channels, such as linking UPI with African systems, reduces transaction costs and cross-border trade friction, directly supporting the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) goals.
• Welfare Gains: Remote access to online higher education and super-speciality healthcare consultations improves public welfare at a fraction of the cost of building physical hospitals or universities.

From a human and socio-economic perspective, the deployment of this digital infrastructure is yielding profound and concrete welfare gains across participating nations. On a social level, remote access to the premier Indian university curriculum and clinical consultations directly elevates domestic human capital and public health standards, bypassing the massive financial and geographical barriers associated with physical travel.

Economically, the integration of payment systems reduces cross-border remittance friction and lowers operational transaction costs for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), allowing local businesses to participate in regional markets. These micro-level impacts align with broader macroeconomic trends identified by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation, which link intensive technology adoption to higher productivity, cost savings, and long-term GDP growth. By training over 50,000 African professionals under ITEC and related digital schemes, the partnership builds local technical expertise, establishing a resilient and self-sustaining digital ecosystem. 

Emerging Issues 

Despite significant progress during the 2022–24 cycle, several structural and policy challenges persist in the execution of India-Africa digital initiatives:

• Digital Infrastructure Gaps: A critical bottleneck remains the severe lack of basic ICT infrastructure on the ground, with approximately half of the African population lacking access to reliable electricity or mobile broadband.
• The Identity Deficit: An estimated 500 million Africans still lack official legal IDs. Because legal identity is the entry requirement to access digital services, this deficit prevents a large segment of the population from fully participating in or benefiting from DPI frameworks.
• Data Privacy and Regulatory Mismatches: Legal frameworks governing data protection and cybersecurity differ significantly between India and individual African nations. Establishing a standard model of DPI governance is necessary to build long-term trust and protect user rights.
• Upfront Costs and Coordination: Large-scale digital transitions involve high upfront capital investments. Furthermore, coordination between multiple international bodies, national regulatory authorities, and tech developers runs the risk of fragmentation if interoperable standards are not maintained.

Way Forward

To take forward the success of the 2022-24 e-VBAB cycle, the partnership needs to be mainstream as a key bilateral enabler. First, India, along with partner countries, needs to invest in deepening local infrastructure, both in the public and the private telecom sectors, for expanding grid, power, and broadband access. This includes creating more solar-powered physical learning centres to bridge the domestic digital divide.

Second, India’s public bodies need to work with local registrars to tie together digital ID campaigns with essential services such as education and seek to leverage the open-source MOSIP platform. This will allow governments to build secure, low-cost digital identity ecosystems for legal identity and secondary payments.

Third, regulators in India need to promote convergence in data privacy, cybersecurity, and related areas through bilateral and multilateral channels. India’s Data Protection Act and the AU’s Cybersecurity Convention could be used as frameworks for developing rights-based data protection laws and policies in partner countries through working groups under the 50-in-5 coalition or the G20-AU partnerships.

Fourth, the transition of e-VBAB into a self-sustaining commercial entity requires concession deals that are pegged to local techno-commercial transfer terms. India’s technology solutions need to be adopted and adapted in partner countries to be able to take advantage of their domestic sociocultural contexts.

References

Government of India. (2019, October 9). Official launch of e-VidyaBharti and e-ArogyaBharti project by External Affairs Minister [Press release]. Ministry of External Affairs. https://www.mea.gov.in

High Commission of India, Lilongwe, Malawi. (2024, May 16). E-Vidya Bharati and E-Arogaya Bharati (e-VBAB) graduation ceremony. Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. https://www.hcililongwe.gov.in/section/press-releases/e-vidya-bharati-and-e-arogaya-bharati-e-vbab-graduation-ceremony/

IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute. (2025, October 3). India-Africa: Leveraging digital public infrastructure for economic growth (2025). IMPRI Insights Blog. https://www.impriindia.com/insights/india-africa-digital-economic-growth/

Ministry of External Affairs. (2022, November). e-VBAB scholarship guidelines and portal. iLearn Portal. https://ilearn.gov.in/scholarship

S&R Associates. (2024, November 5). The new India-UAE BIT: Changing the model BIT by BIT. https://www.snrlaw.in/the-new-india-uae-bit-changing-the-model-bit-by-bit/

About the Contributor  

Himanshi Singh is a research & editorial intern at the Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI). She holds a postgraduate degree in political science and international relations. Her research interests include foreign policy, strategic studies, public policy, national security, diplomacy, and global governance, with a particular focus on India’s external relations and evidence-based policy research.

Acknowledgement

The author sincerely thanks the IMPRI Editorial Desk for invaluable mentorship and guidance during the development of this policy update. Special thanks are also extended to fellow interns for their thoughtful input and support throughout the research process.

Reviewers: Shivali Yadav & Madhuritha D

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

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