Recognising the need for regulating the increasing use of IT services to ensure continued benefits of advancement in technology and addressing the challenges it brought, the government enacted the Information Technology Act, 2000. This was the first step towards providing a legal framework for e-commerce, data storage, and protection from cybercrime. The law also paved the way for digital signatures, electronic records, and secure electronic communication. While these developments were critical for a foundation, it was under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that India’s digital revolution gained speed and global recognition.
The launch of the Digital India initiative in July 2015 marked a transformative shift. Modi envisioned the programme not merely as an exercise in digitisation but as the creation of a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. The initiative had three core components: digital infrastructure as a utility to every citizen, governance and services on demand, and the digital empowerment of citizens. Modi emphasised that the programme was aimed at bridging the digital divide and ensuring that technology became an enabler of inclusivity, transparency, and growth.
One of the most ambitious projects under Digital India was BharatNet, which sought to connect all 250,000 gram panchayats across India with high-speed broadband. Modi described BharatNet as the digital backbone of rural India, providing last-mile connectivity and enabling rural citizens to access services ranging from e-governance to telemedicine. By 2023, millions of households in remote villages had benefited, schools and health centres were digitally linked, and small businesses could tap into national and global markets through the internet.
Parallel to infrastructure, Modi’s government drove innovation in digital payments. The launch of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) revolutionised the financial landscape. With its simple, secure, and interoperable system, UPI turned India into the world’s fastest-growing digital payments market. Modi often highlighted the role of UPI in democratising finance, bringing small vendors, farmers, and the informal sector into the digital economy. By 2022, India was recording billions of UPI transactions monthly, surpassing even China and the United States. Modi also showcased UPI internationally, with French President Emmanuel Macron joining him in 2023 to launch UPI services in Paris at the Eiffel Tower, a moment symbolic of India’s digital soft power.
Aadhaar, the world’s largest biometric identification system, became the cornerstone of Modi’s digital governance model. Although conceptualised earlier, it was under Modi that Aadhaar was integrated seamlessly into welfare and governance. Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT) linked to Aadhaar eliminated middlemen and leakages, ensuring subsidies for cooking gas, pensions, and scholarships reached beneficiaries directly. Modi repeatedly underlined how technology had ended decades of inefficiency and corruption in welfare delivery. The JAM trinity—Jan Dhan bank accounts, Aadhaar, and Mobile numbers—became a hallmark of Modi’s inclusive governance.
Digital literacy was another priority. The Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA), launched in 2017, aimed to make six crore rural households digitally literate. Alongside, the earlier National Digital Literacy Mission (NDLM) was expanded. Modi stressed that real empowerment would come only when ordinary citizens, including farmers, artisans, and women in villages, could use smartphones and digital platforms confidently. Under PMGDISHA, training was provided in local languages, covering basics such as cashless transactions, email use, and accessing government services online.
The healthcare sector also witnessed significant digital advances. The Aarogya Setu app, launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, exemplified Modi’s vision of leveraging technology for public health. The app became one of the world’s fastest downloaded, enabling contact tracing, risk assessment, and information dissemination. Additionally, the expansion of telemedicine services under the e-Sanjeevani platform brought doctors virtually to patients in remote areas. Modi emphasised that digital health initiatives would reduce the rural–urban healthcare gap, ensure affordable access, and strengthen the doctor–patient connect in a vast country like India.
The education sector too benefited. With the pandemic disrupting traditional classrooms, the government rolled out digital learning platforms such as DIKSHA and SWAYAM, enabling millions of students to continue learning online. Modi frequently described education technology as a leveller, providing equal access irrespective of geography or economic background.
India’s digital revolution under Modi was not confined within its borders. The government positioned India Stack—a set of open APIs including Aadhaar, UPI, DigiLocker, and eKYC—as a global public good. By offering this model to developing countries, India projected digital diplomacy as a key element of its foreign policy. Modi’s government signed agreements with countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America to adopt or adapt components of India Stack, enhancing India’s international influence.
Cybersecurity and data protection also became crucial concerns. Modi’s government introduced initiatives for protecting critical infrastructure, promoting indigenous technologies, and creating awareness about safe digital practices. The proposed Personal Data Protection Bill reflected Modi’s emphasis on balancing innovation with citizens’ privacy.
Importantly, the digital revolution dovetailed with Modi’s broader agenda of ease of doing business. Online clearances, faceless assessments in taxation, the MCA21 portal for corporate filings, and the GeM (Government e-Marketplace) transformed the business environment. Startups, particularly in fintech, edtech, and healthtech, flourished as regulatory bottlenecks eased. Modi celebrated India’s rise as the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world, attributing much of the momentum to the digital foundations his government had laid.
By the end of the decade, the results were undeniable. Over 800 million internet users, the world’s highest volume of digital payments, and near-universal Aadhaar coverage reflected a new India. Modi, in his speeches, linked these milestones to the idea of Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India), where technology was both a tool of empowerment and a pillar of sovereignty. The digital revolution, he argued, had given ordinary citizens dignity, efficiency, and opportunity.
From BharatNet to UPI, from Aadhaar-enabled DBT to PMGDISHA, Modi’s digital initiatives had transformed not only governance but also the lived reality of millions of Indians. For the first time, rural women could access telemedicine, street vendors could accept digital payments, and students in villages could attend online lectures of the best professors in the country. India’s transformation from a laggard to a leader in the digital domain was, by all measures, one of the most remarkable stories of the Modi decade.
Jonathan Fleming is Senior Lecturer in the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He is also a general partner of Oxford Bioscience Partners (OBP), an international venture capital firm specialising in life science technology–based investments, with offices in Boston and Connecticut. Namit Choksi is currently leading the India and Asia-Pacific growth, strategy and expansion for a USD 1.7 billion California-based biotechnology company whilst pursuing his MBA at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Vinit Parikh is an entrepreneur with more than twenty years of experience in the field of finance. He is a chartered accountant by education and also an investor in a few start-ups.
This article is extracted from the essay Advancements in Technology and the Digital Revolution in India, published in the book Indian Renaissance: The Age of PM Modi, edited by Aishwarya Pandit.
