In June 2025, the Government of India (GoI) marked 11 years of the Digital India initiative, highlighting significant strides toward building a digitally empowered society and a knowledge-driven economy.
- A strong digital infrastructure is essential to a modern economy, and over the past 11 years, India has made remarkable strides by expanding mobile network coverage and enhancing internet access in rural regions.
- The digital economy, which contributed 11.74% to the national income in 2022–23, is projected to grow to 13.42% by 2024–25, driven by advancements in Artificial Intelligence(AI), cloud computing, and digital infrastructure.
About Digital India:
Digital India is a flagship programme of the GoI, launched on July 1, 2015, by Prime Minister(PM)Narendra Modi with the vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
- The initiative builds on the foundation of earlier e-governance programs launched in the mid-1990s, evolving into a more comprehensive digital transformation framework.
- The Digital India initiative is primarily coordinated by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), in collaboration with various ministries and overseen by a high-level monitoring committee chaired by the PM of India.
Connectivity and Infrastructure:
i.Telecom and Internet Penetration: Total telephone connections in India grew from 93.3 crores in March 2014 to 120+ crores in April 2025.
- As of October 2024, urban telephone connections climbed to 661.36 million, up from 555.23 million in March 2014, while rural connections saw a substantial rise from 377.78 million to 527.34 million over the same period.
ii.Internet and Broadband Penetration:
- Internet connections jumped from 25.15 crore in March 2014 to 96.96 crore in June 2024, registering a growth of 285.53%.
- Out of 6,44,131 villages, 6,15,836 villages have 4G(4th Generation) mobile connectivity in the country, as of December 2024.
iii.5G and Connectivity: Currently, 5G services span 99.6% of India’s districts, with an impressive 2.95 lakh Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) installed during the financial year 2023–24(FY24).
iv.BharatNet: As of January 2025, the BharatNet project has brought high-speed internet to over 2.18 lakh Gram Panchayats.
Digital Finance and Inclusion:
i.Unified Payment Interface(UPI): In April 2025, over 1,867.7 crore transactions worth Rs.24.77 lakh crore were carried out using UPI in just one month.
- The (UPI) system is currently used by close to 460 million individuals and 65 million merchants.
- Also UPI now live in over seven countries, including the United Arab Emirates(UAE), Singapore, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, France and Mauritius.
ii.Aadhaar: The Aadhaar-based e-KYC system has helped simplify processes in both banking and public services. As of April 2025, 141.88 crore Aadhaar IDs have been generated.
iii.Direct Benefits Transfer(DBT): It helped to remove fake beneficiaries and saved the government more than Rs.3.48 lakh crore between 2015 and March 2023.
iv.Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC):As of January 2025, there are more than 7.64 lakh sellers/service providers registered on the ONDC platform.
v.Government e-Marketplace (GeM): As of January, 2025, GeM has clocked a GMV(Gross Merchandise Value) of Rs.4.09 lakh crore within 10 months of the current Fiscal Year 2024-25 and GeM has a network of 1.6 lakh+ government buyers and over 22.5 lakh sellers and service providers.
E-Governance:
i.Karmayogi Bharat + iGOT:As of May 2025, over 1.07 crore Karmayogis have been onboarded onto the platform, which offers 2,588 courses spanning diverse governance domains.
- With more than 3.24 crore learning certificates issued, the platform facilitates continuous learning through online, face to face, and blended formats.
ii.DigiLocker: It was launched in 2015 to provide access to authentic digital documents to citizen’s digital document wallet.
- 2031.99 lakh yearly user signups recorded in 2024 as compared to 9.98 lakh signups recorded in 2015.
iii.Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance (UMANG): It is single platform for all Indian Citizens to access pan India e-Gov services ranging from Central to Local Government bodies.
- As of May 2025 8.21 crore user registrations, 597 crore transactions recorded and 2,300 government services are available.
Digital Capacity Building:
i.Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA): It was launched in February 2017 to promote digital literacy and empower rural India through technology.
- As of March 31,2024 it had enrolled approximately 7.35 crore candidates, with 6.39 crore individuals successfully trained and 4.77 crore certified.
ii.BHASHa INterface for India (Bhashini):It enables access to digital content and public services in multiple Indian languages.
- As of May 2025, BHASHINI supports 35+ languages with over 1,600 AI models and 18 language services.
