Srinagar, Aug 5: The Centre on Wednesday said the Digital India programme has significantly expanded the country’s digital infrastructure over the past decade, with internet subscribers rising to 109.27 crore and telephone connections crossing 133 crore, while highlighting major advances in cyber security, data protection and artificial intelligence.
Sharing details of the Digital India initiative, the Government said internet subscribers increased from 25.15 crore in March 2014 to 109.27 crore in March 2026, while telephone connections rose from 93.3 crore to over 133 crore during the same period. It said affordable data, digital public infrastructure and improved connectivity have enabled greater access to welfare schemes, education, healthcare and digital payments.
Under the BharatNet project, the Government said 2.21 lakh Gram Panchayats had been made service-ready by June 2026, with Points of Presence operational at 80,472 Gram Panchayats. It added that 24,784 mobile towers had been commissioned nationwide under the Digital Bharat Nidhi-funded mobile connectivity scheme as of June 30, 2026.
Highlighting the expansion of Digital Public Infrastructure, the Government said more than 1.44 billion Aadhaar numbers have been generated, while over Rs 52 lakh crore has been transferred through Aadhaar-linked Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) across 318 schemes of 56 ministries. UPI, it said, now serves over 55.49 crore users, 6.5 crore merchants and 731 banks, accounting for 85 per cent of India’s digital payments and nearly half of global real-time digital payment transactions.
The Government also said DigiLocker has over 71.66 crore registered users with more than 936.03 crore digital documents issued, while the UMANG platform provides 2,575 citizen services. The e-Sanjeevani telemedicine platform has served over 48 crore patients, and more than 5.01 lakh Common Service Centres are operational across the country, including 3.91 lakh at the Gram Panchayat level.
On digital literacy, the Government said over 6.39 crore people have been trained under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA), while more than 23 lakh candidates have undergone training through the FutureSkills Prime programme. It added that the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology operates 56 centres and over 9,000 partner institutes for digital skill development.
The Government said India’s IT and ITeS industry generated an estimated USD 283 billion in revenue in FY25 and that over 2,100 Global Capability Centres currently employ around 26 lakh professionals. It also highlighted initiatives to promote technology startups through 73 Software Technology Parks of India centres and the GENESIS scheme, which aims to support around 1,600 technology startups.
The Government said it has strengthened cyber security through institutions such as CERT-In, the National Cyber Coordination Centre, Cyber Swachhta Kendra, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) and the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre. It also highlighted the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 as the country’s framework for protecting digital personal data.
On artificial intelligence, the Government said the IndiaAI Mission, approved with an outlay of Rs 10,371.92 crore, is being implemented through seven pillars, including AI computing infrastructure, indigenous foundation models, AI applications, AI skill development, datasets, responsible AI and startup financing to strengthen India’s AI ecosystem.
