10 Years of Digital India Programme

Context (IE I PIB): Government’s flagship ‘Digital India’ programme completed ten years on July 1.

About Digital India

Launched in 2015, the Digital India Mission is a flagship programme of the Government of India.
Vision: To transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
Umbrella Programme: Digital India comprises various initiatives under a single programme, each targeted at preparing India to become a knowledge economy and bringing good governance to its citizens.
Key Pillars: The Digital India Initiative is built upon nine key pillars, each focusing on a specific aspect of transforming India into a digitally empowered nation.

Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) App: Launched in December 2016, BHIM is an Indian mobile payment app developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), based on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN): The GST portal was launched in July 2017. Since then, the number of registered taxpayers has doubled to 1.23 crore.
Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA): Launched in 2018, it aims to promote digital literacy in rural India, covering six crore rural households (one person per household).
Aarogya Setu App: In 2020, the Government launched the Aarogya Setu mobile app to bring the people of India together in a resolute fight against COVID-19.

Telephone Connections: Rose from ₹93.3 crore in March 2014 to over ₹120 crore in April 2025.
Internet connections: Jumped from 25.15 Cr (2014) to 96.96 Cr (2024), registering a growth of 285.53%.
Broadband Connections: Rose from 6.1 Cr (2014) to 94.92 Cr (2024), a 1,452% increase.
5G and Connectivity: 5G was launched in 2022. In just 22 months, India installed 4.74 lakh 5G towers, covering 99.6% of districts.
BharatNet: Connected over 2.18 lakh Gram Panchayats with high-speed internet (Jan 2025).

UPI: Nearly 460 million people and 65 million merchants use UPI. According to the ACI Worldwide Report 2024, India handled 49% of global real-time transactions in 2023.
Aadhaar: Aadhaar-based e-KYC system has helped simplify processes in both banking & public services. It facilitated faster verification, reduced paperwork, and brought transparency across various sectors.
- As of April 2025, 142 crore Aadhaar IDs have been generated.
Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT): DBT utilises Aadhaar to deliver welfare payments directly, thereby eliminating fake beneficiaries. It saved the Government over ₹3.48 lakh crore between 2015 and March 2023.
- By May 2025, ₹44 lakh crore will have been transferred through DBT.
Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC): Launched in 2022, it helps small businesses enter digital markets. By Jan 2025, it covered 616+ cities & registered more than 7.64 lakh sellers & service providers.
Government e-Marketplace (GeM): Launched in 2016, it enables purchase of goods & services by govt. departments. It has over 1.6 lakh government buyers & more than 22.5 lakh sellers & service providers.

India AI Mission (2024): It aims to build a robust and inclusive AI ecosystem. By May 2025, India’s national computing power had surpassed 34,000 GPUs, marking a significant milestone in the growth of AI infrastructure.
India Semiconductor Mission (ISM): It aims to build a strong semiconductor and display ecosystem, positioning India as a global hub for electronics manufacturing and design.
- As of 14 May 2025, six semiconductor projects worth ₹1.55 lakh crore have been approved.

Karmayogi Bharat + iGOT: Under Mission Karmayogi, the platform trains civil servants with the right Attitude, Skills, and Knowledge. As of May 2025, over 1.21 crore officials are onboarded.
DigiLocker: It offers citizens access to digital documents. By June 2025, users reached 53.92 crore.
UMANG: It is a single mobile platform that enables citizens to access services from central to Local Governments. As of June 2025, it has 8.34 crore user registrations.
BHASHINI (BHASHa INterface for India): Launched in 2022, it aims to facilitate easy access to the internet and digital services in Indian languages, including voice-based access, and support the creation of content in these languages.
- BHASHINI supports over 35 languages with > 1,600 AI models and 18 language services (May 2025).