BJP leader and former Union Minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday, 1 July 2026 marked the 11th anniversary of the Digital India programme, hailing it as a story of inclusion, empowerment, and transformation under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Her post on X underscored how the initiative has reshaped the way citizens learn, work, and grow across every corner of the country.

Context

Irani wrote that '#11YearsOfDigitalIndia under PM @NarendraModi ji's leadership has transformed the way India learns, works, and grows,' adding that the programme has empowered citizens and businesses while strengthening governance and accelerating innovation. She described the outcome as 'a digital ecosystem that touches lives in every corner of the country.' The post, accompanied by a video, was shared on the exact anniversary date of the programme's original launch.

Digital India was formally launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 1 July 2015, making 2026 its eleventh year of implementation. The programme was conceived as a comprehensive effort to create digital infrastructure, deliver government services electronically, and promote digital literacy among India's vast population.

Policy Backdrop

The roots of Digital India stretch back to the National e-Governance Plan approved in 2006, which laid the groundwork for many of the programme's current pillars. Two landmark developments accelerated its reach: the Aadhaar Act of 2016, which provided a legal framework for the biometric identity system now integrated into a wide range of public services, and the rollout of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in 2016, which became the backbone of India's digital payments ecosystem.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology serves as the nodal ministry for implementing Digital India components, including broadband highway expansion through schemes such as BharatNet and the digitisation of government-to-citizen services. The initiative sits alongside complementary programmes including Startup India and Make in India, forming part of a broader push toward digital public infrastructure since 2014.

Stakeholders and Impact

The programme's stated beneficiaries span a wide spectrum: individual citizens accessing e-governance portals, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) leveraging digital payments and online marketplaces, government departments improving service delivery, and technology startups building on public digital infrastructure. UPI, one of the most visible outputs of the digital push, has grown into one of the world's largest real-time payments platforms and is now being piloted in multiple countries.

Digital literacy and last-mile connectivity remain ongoing priorities. The BharatNet project, aimed at connecting gram panchayats across rural India with high-speed optical fibre, continues to expand in successive phases, with Phase III rollout being closely watched by policymakers and industry alike.

What's Next

As Digital India enters its twelfth year, attention will focus on the progress of BharatNet Phase III and the potential tabling of new data protection legislation in Parliament, which would govern how personal data collected through digital public infrastructure is stored and used. Irani's post signals that senior BJP leaders intend to keep the programme's anniversary visible in public discourse, reinforcing its place as a central plank of the party's governance narrative ahead of future electoral cycles.