In line with Hon’ble Prime Minister's vision to democratise technology and empower citizens, the Government of India had launched the Digital India programme in July, 2015. At its core, the programme promotes three interconnected goals: strengthening digital infrastructure, delivering government services digitally, and empowering citizens through digital literacy and employment.

The Government has implemented several initiatives and policy measures to strengthen digital infrastructure, enhance cyber security and data protection, improve internet connectivity, and promote the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) across the country. Details of some of the key initiatives are as follows:

Internet connectivity: Digital India has contributed to the rapid expansion of internet access, through initiatives such as BharatNet, which aims to provide high-speed internet to rural and remote areas. As a result, there has been a substantial increase in internet accessibility and usage across the country, and internet penetration in India has grown in the last decade.

• Telecom, Internet & Broadband penetration: Total telephone connections in India grew from 93.3 crores in March 2014 to 133+ crores in March, 2026.
• Internet subscribers jumped from 25.15 crore in March 2014 to 109.27 crore in March, 2026.
• BharatNet - Linking Villages to the Internet: The infrastructure created under BharatNet project is a national asset, accessible on a non-discriminatory basis to the Service Providers, and the same can be utilized to provide broadband services, such as Wi-Fi Hotspots, Fibre to the Home (FTTH) connections, leased lines, etc. As of June 2026, a total of 2.21 lakh Gram Panchayats (GPs) have been made service-ready under the BharatNet Project across the country, with BharatNet’s Point of Presence (PoPs) operational at 80,472 GPs.
• As on 30.06.2026, 24,784 Towers are commissioned across the country under Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN) funded mobile scheme.

Services delivery through Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI): Affordable data, assisted digital access points, and interoperable public platforms are enabling citizens to access welfare schemes, make digital payments, pursue online education, and participate in governance. Data costs have plummeted from Rs. 269 per GB in 2014 to roughly Rs. 8-10 per GB in 2025-26, making India one of the world's cheapest data markets.

• Aadhaar: Aadhaar created a trusted biometric identity platform for secure and instant digital authentication. Over 1.44+ billion Aadhaar numbers have been generated.
• Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT): Through Aadhaar-linked DBT, cash benefits from various welfare schemes (318 Schemes of 56 Ministries) are directly transferred into beneficiaries' bank accounts. Over Rs. 52 lakh crore has been transferred through DBT nationwide.
• Unified Payments Interface (UPI):

o  UPI serves more than 55.49 crore individuals, 6.5 crore merchants, and connects 731 banks on one platform, making it the world’s largest digital payment system.

o  UPI powers 85% of India’s digital payments and nearly 50% of global real-time digital payments.

• DigiLocker. The platform has over 71.66 crore registered users, with more than 936.03 crore documents issued by 2,822 onboarded issuers.
• Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance (UMANG): The platform offers 2,575 services for individuals, including 48 services integrated by the Government of Madhya Pradesh.
• e-Sanjeevani facilitates quick and easy access to doctors and medical specialists directly from your smartphone. The platform has served over 48 crore patients across the country.
• Common Services Centres – CSCs are offering government and business services in digital mode enhancing last-mile connectivity in rural areas through Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs). Over 800 services are being delivered through CSCs. As on May 2026, 5.01 lakh CSCs are functional across the country (in rural and urban areas), out of which 3.91 lakh CSCs are functional at the Gram Panchayat level (rural).

Building Digital Skills: India’s digital transformation goes beyond mere access; it focuses on empowering people and institutions to use technology effectively, driving inclusive growth, strengthening digital governance, and enabling citizens across the nation.

• Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA) is one of the world’s largest digital literacy initiatives with over 6.39 Crore persons getting trained nationwide (against the target of 6 Crore).
• FutureSkills Prime is a collaborative initiative of Government of India and NASSCOM. It provides skilling, reskilling, and upskilling in emerging technologies. Under the programme, so far, more than 34+ lakh candidates have registered on the portal, out of which there have been 23+ lakh candidates enrolled/trained in various courses.
• National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) provides digital literacy courses such as Awareness in Computer Concept (ACC), Course on Computer Concepts (CCC) etc. Currently, NIELIT operates 56 of its own Centres and a Nationwide network of 9000+ partner institutes for conducting skill development activities in IECT areas.

Indian IT/ ITeS industry: Our IT industry has been progressively contributing to the growth of exports and creation of employment opportunities. India's digital economy is creating large-scale employment opportunities. The IT and ITeS industry is estimated to have generated USD 283 billion in revenue in FY25, according to NASSCOM. India’s 2,100+ Global Capability Centres (GCCs) employ around 26 lakh professionals across engineering, analytics, cyber security, and AI-driven roles.

Digital Entrepreneurship: To strengthen the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the Electronics and ICT domain across Tier-II and Tier-III cities in India, MeitY has undertaken several initiatives to promote technology-driven startups and innovation ecosystems in the country. Some of these initiatives are:

• The Government has set up 73 Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) centres of which 65 centres are located in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.
• ‘Gen-Next Support for Innovative Startups (GENESIS)’ Scheme envisages scaling up about 1,600 technology startups, to discover, nurture and grow technology startups. The scheme is being implemented through 65 incubation centres as Implementing Agencies

Cyber Security measures: The policies of the Government are aimed at ensuring an Open, Safe and Trusted and Accountable Internet for its users. Government has taken several legal, technical, and administrative policy measures for addressing cyber security challenges in the country which, inter alia, includes:

(i) National Cyber Security Coordinator (NCSC) under the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) to ensure coordination amongst different agencies.

(ii) Under the provisions of section 70B of the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) is designated as the national agency for responding to cyber security incidents.

(iii) National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) implemented by the CERT-In serves as the control room to scan cyberspace in the country and detect cyber security threats. NCCC facilitates coordination among different agencies by sharing with them the metadata from cyberspace for taking actions to mitigate cyber security threats.

(iv) Cyber Swachhta Kendra (CSK) is a citizen-centric service provided by CERT-In, which extends the vision of Swachh Bharat to the Cyber Space. Cyber Swachhta Kendra is the Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre and helps to detect malicious programs and provides free tools to remove the same, and also provides cyber security tips and best practices for citizens and organisations.

(v) Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has created Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) to deal with cybercrimes in a coordinated and effective manner.

(vi) Under the provisions of section 70A of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, the Government has established National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) for protection of critical information infrastructure in the country.

(vii) The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology conducts programmes to generate information security awareness. Awareness material in the form of handbooks, short videos, posters, brochures, cartoon stories for children, advisories, etc. on various aspects of cyber hygiene & cyber security including deepfakes are disseminated through portals such as www.staysafeonline.in,www.infosecawareness.in and www.csk.gov.in.

Data Protection: The Government has taken several steps to strengthen the framework for data protection in the country which, inter alia, includes:

• The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (“Act”) establishes a comprehensive framework governing the processing of digital personal data in a manner that recognises both the right of individuals to protect their personal data and the need to process such personal data for lawful purposes.
• Under the Act, personal data may be processed only for a lawful purpose and either on the basis of the consent of the Data Principal or for certain legitimate uses. Consent is required to be free, specific, informed, unconditional and unambiguous, and must be accompanied or preceded by a notice describing the personal data to be collected and the purpose of its processing.
• The Act, and the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 (“Rules”) notified on 13^th November, 2025 provide a timeline for phased implementation of its provisions over an eighteen-month transition period, including the establishment of the Data Protection Board.

Through the enactment of the Act and the notification of the Rules, the Government has established a comprehensive and citizen-centric framework to ensure the protection of digital personal data and to promote responsible use of data in India’s digital ecosystem.

IndiaAI Mission: India’s AI policy is based on Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of democratizing technology. It is aimed at creating economic opportunities and employment for youth, while addressing risks associated with it.

India’s AI strategy builds on India’s vibrant IT sector with annual revenue of 300 billion dollars and 60 Lakh strong workforce. The Government approved the IndiaAI Mission on 7^th March 2024 with a total outlay of Rs. 10,371.92 crore over five years, operationalized through seven pillars, as under:

• IndiaAI Compute Pillar: To establish a high-end, scalable AI computing ecosystem to address the growing requirements of India's rapidly expanding AI startup and research communities.
• Foundation Models: To focus on the development of indigenous Large Language Models (LLMs), Multimodal Models, and domain-specific Small Language Models, ensuring sovereign AI capabilities and addressing India-specific use cases.
• IndiaAI Application Development Initiative (IADI): To support the development, scaling, and deployment of impactful AI solutions capable of driving large-scale socio-economic transformation across critical sectors.
• IndiaAI FutureSkills: To build a robust AI talent pipeline by establishing specialised Data and AI Labs in Tier 2 and 3 cities, providing student fellowships, and developing industry-aligned curricula to democratise AI education.
• AIKosh (IndiaAI Datasets Platform): To create a unified platform providing seamless access to high-quality datasets, models, and tools, integrating resources from government and non-government entities to foster open innovation.
• Safe & Trusted AI: To enable responsible AI development through indigenous governance frameworks and evaluation tools tailored to India's unique socio-economic and cultural landscape.
• IndiaAI Startup Financing: To provide risk capital and support throughout the startup lifecycle, bridging funding gaps from the initial prototyping stage through to commercialization.

This information was submitted by Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Shri Jitin Prasada in Lok Sabha on 05.08.2026. 

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Vinod Kumar / Kanishk Sharma

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