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India's Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) now spans 144+ crore Aadhaar IDs, 55.49 crore UPI users across 731 banks, and 71.66 crore DigiLocker users with 936.03 crore documents issued.
Common Service Centres have grown from 83,950 (May 2014) to 5.01 lakh (May 2026), covering 2.56 lakh Gram Panchayats and handling 4,854 lakh transactions in 2025-26 alone.
BharatNet has made 2.21 lakh Gram Panchayats service-ready, and Aadhaar-linked Direct Benefit Transfer has moved over ₹52 lakh crore across 318 schemes of 56 Ministries.
Digital India (launched July 2015) built on the foundation of the National e-Governance Plan (approved May 2006), which created State Data Centres, SWANs, SSDGs and the original CSC scheme.
Data was given by MeitY Ministers Jitin Prasada and Ashwini Vaishnaw in the Lok Sabha on 29.07.2026.
Statutory basis for Aadhaar and UIDAI, giving Aadhaar authentication legal backing for welfare-scheme delivery
Statutory authority issuing and managing Aadhaar
District-level nodal body implementing and monitoring e-District, CSC and other Digital India initiatives
Make government services accessible locally through common service-delivery outlets
Key: Approved May 2006; created SDCs, SWANs, SSDGs and the CSC scheme; later subsumed into Digital India
Strengthen digital infrastructure, deliver services digitally, and build digital literacy
Key: Launched July 2015; restructured CSCs as CSC 2.0 (August 2015), targeting at least one CSC per Gram Panchayat
Extend broadband connectivity to every Gram Panchayat
Key: Originated as the National Optical Fibre Network (Oct 2011), renamed BharatNet in 2015; 2.21 lakh GPs service-ready by June 2026
Transfer welfare cash benefits directly to beneficiaries using Aadhaar authentication
Key: Over ₹52 lakh crore transferred across 318 schemes of 56 Ministries, eliminating duplicate/fake beneficiaries
DPI refers to open, interoperable, population-scale digital platforms for identity (Aadhaar), payments (UPI) and data exchange (DigiLocker, API Setu) that any government or private service can build upon, instead of each service creating its own siloed system. India's DPI 'stack' is widely cited internationally as a model for other countries.
Simple Analogy: Like national highways for digital services — instead of every scheme building its own road to reach citizens, they all run on the same identity, payment and document highways.
| Aspect | NeGP (2006) | Digital India (2015) |
|---|---|---|
| Approved | May 2006 | July 2015 (subsumed NeGP) |
| Core idea | Common service-delivery outlets in every locality | Population-scale DPI — identity, payments, data exchange |
| Key infrastructure created | State Data Centres, SWANs, SSDGs, CSCs | Aadhaar/UPI scale-up, DigiLocker, UMANG, BharatNet expansion |
| CSC milestone | CSC Scheme approved September 2006 | Restructured as CSC 2.0 (Aug 2015); target — 1 CSC per GP |
Adds linguistic inclusion to DPI, letting digital services reach citizens in Indian languages
Its FutureSkills pillar (e.g. 'YUVA AI for All') builds AI literacy on top of the same DPI-enabled digital access
A unified authentication layer atop Aadhaar/DigiLocker simplifying citizen access across government applications
GS Paper 2 > Governance > e-Governance and Digital Public Infrastructure; GS Paper 3 > Science & Technology
Which of the following statements is/are correct regarding Smart India Hackathon 2017? 1. It is a centrally sponsored scheme for developing every city of our country into Smart Cities in a decade. 2. It is an initiative to identify new digital technology innovations for solving the many problems faced by our country. 3. It is a programme aimed at making all the financial transactions in our country completely digital in a decade. Select the correct answer using the code given below:
Answer: 2 only
An electric iron of 1kW power operating on 220V requires a fuse of what rating to prevent short-circuiting?
Answer: 5 A
Very high — DPI statistics are updated and cited in Parliament almost every session
Open, interoperable, population-scale digital platforms for identity, payments and data exchange
The 2015 restructuring of the Common Services Centre scheme under Digital India, targeting one CSC per Gram Panchayat