Prime Minister Narendra Modi marked 10 years of the Digital India initiative with a reflective blog titled “A Decade of Digital India”, published on LinkedIn on Tuesday. He credited the programme with turning India into a global leader in digital inclusion, innovation, and governance.
“Digital India has not remained a mere government program; it has become a people’s movement,” PM Modi stated, describing the initiative as a bold step to democratise technology and bridge the divide between the privileged and the marginalised.
📈 Key Highlights from the Blog:
🛰️ Tech for Empowerment, Not Exclusion:
Modi recalled how skepticism previously surrounded India’s digital potential, but his government shifted focus to trusting citizens’ ability to use and benefit from technology. “We used tech not to deepen gaps, but to close them,” he said.
🌐 Internet & Infrastructure Growth:
- Internet connections surged from 25 crore in 2014 to 97 crore in 2024.
- 42 lakh km of Optical Fibre Cable laid, connecting remote villages and forward military posts like Siachen and Galwan.
- India’s 5G rollout is among the fastest globally, with 4.81 lakh base stations deployed in two years.
💸 India Stack & Financial Inclusion:
- UPI handles over 100 billion transactions annually, making up nearly half of all real-time digital payments worldwide.
- ₹44 lakh crore transferred via Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), saving ₹3.48 lakh crore by eliminating leakages.
- SVAMITVA scheme issued 2.4 crore+ property cards across 6.47 lakh villages.
🛍️ MSME Empowerment via GeM and ONDC:
- ONDC crossed 200 million transactions, helping small businesses reach nationwide markets.
- GeM surpassed ₹1 lakh crore GMV in 50 days, with 22 lakh sellers, including 1.8 lakh+ women-led MSMEs.
💡 Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI):
- Platforms like Aadhaar, CoWIN, DigiLocker, FASTag, PM-WANI are now studied globally.
- CoWIN enabled 220 crore+ vaccinations with verifiable QR certificates.
- DigiLocker hosts 775 crore+ documents for 54 crore users.
- India launched the Global DPI Repository and a $25 million Social Impact Fund during its G20 Presidency.
🚀 AI and Startups:
- India is now among the top 3 global startup ecosystems, with over 1.8 lakh startups.
- Under the $1.2 billion India AI Mission, 34,000 GPUs are made available at less than $1/hour, making India the most affordable compute destination globally.
- PM Modi reaffirmed commitment to “humanity-first AI” through the New Delhi Declaration on AI.
🌍 India’s Global Digital Leadership Vision:
“The next decade will take us from digital governance to global digital leadership,” Modi wrote, urging entrepreneurs to create tech that “unites, includes, and uplifts.”
📣 Conclusion:
Prime Minister Modi’s blog is not just a celebration of milestones but also a call to action for India’s youth, startups, and innovators to seize the global moment. As the world looks toward India for the next digital breakthrough, the Prime Minister envisions a future led by India-for-the-world innovation rooted in inclusivity and empowerment.