Why in the News?

On July 1, 2025, the Government of India celebrated 10 years of the ‘Digital India’ initiative. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while marking this milestone, emphasized that Digital India has grown beyond being a mere governance programme to become a “people’s movement”, impacting every corner of Indian society.

What is Digital India?

Launched on July 1, 2015, Digital India is a flagship programme of the Government of India with a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. This ambitious initiative brings together various digital programmes under a unified framework, with the aim of enabling inclusive growth in areas such as electronic services, digital infrastructure, and universal digital literacy.

9 Pillars of Digital India

At the core of this mission are nine transformative pillars, each targeting a key component of the country’s digital ecosystem:

1. Broadband Highways – Enhancing connectivity across rural and urban areas.
2. Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity – Bridging the digital divide across remote regions.
3. Public Internet Access Programme – Establishing Common Service Centres (CSCs) to provide e-services.
4. e-Governance – Reforming government operations through technology.
5. e-Kranti (Electronic Delivery of Services) – Ensuring online delivery of government services.
6. Information for All – Providing open access to government data and information.
7. Electronics Manufacturing – Promoting ‘Make in India’ for electronics and reducing import dependence.
8. IT for Jobs – Creating training and employment opportunities through IT.
9. Early Harvest Programmes – Implementing quick-win initiatives like SMS-based services and biometric attendance.

These pillars have laid the groundwork for the rapid digital transformation of India’s governance, economy, and society.

Key Flagship Initiatives under Digital India

Over the past decade, numerous landmark initiatives have emerged under the Digital India umbrella. Here are some of the most impactful:

BHIM App

• Launched: December 30, 2016
• Developed by: NPCI
• Based on: Unified Payments Interface (UPI)
• A breakthrough in digital payments, BHIM has empowered millions with real-time, mobile-based banking.

GST Network (GSTN)

• Launched: July 1, 2017
• Enabled the digital transformation of India’s indirect tax system, streamlining registration, return filing, and tax payments.
• Stats: Over 44 crore returns filed and ₹23.84 lakh crore tax collected in 34 months.

PMGDISHA – Digital Literacy in Villages

• Launched: 2018
• Aims to make 6 crore rural households digitally literate.
• Promotes inclusion and bridges the digital literacy gap in rural India.

Aarogya Setu App

• Launched: 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic
• A public-private effort, enabling health monitoring, contact tracing, and COVID-19 updates, making tech a health ally.

Digital India BHASHINI

• Launched: 2022
• Promotes Indian language accessibility for digital services, with voice-based access and multilingual content creation.

ONDC – Open Network for Digital Commerce

• A government-backed initiative to democratize e-commerce.
• Enables small businesses and local retailers to compete with larger platforms by integrating into a common digital ecosystem.

Impact of Digital India in 10 Years

• Over 13 lakh Common Service Centres (CSCs) operating across the country.
• UPI has crossed 10 billion monthly transactions, making India a global leader in real-time digital payments.
• Boost in rural internet penetration, digital health records, e-learning platforms, and citizen service delivery.
• Digital public infrastructure like Aadhaar, DigiLocker, and CoWIN have become global examples of scalable e-governance.

After knowing about the Digital India Mission and its milestones, let’s know about the newly proposed India Energy Stack (IES).

India Energy Stack (IES)

In a bold step towards digitally transforming the energy sector, the Ministry of Power, on June 27, 2025, announced the formation of a 17-member task force, led by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, to design and chart a comprehensive roadmap for the India Energy Stack (IES). This visionary initiative aims to build a national digital backbone for India’s power sector, just as Aadhaar did for identity and UPI did for payments.

What is the India Energy Stack?

The India Energy Stack is envisioned as a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for the power sector — a platform that digitally integrates India’s fragmented energy ecosystem, linking:

• Electricity producers
• Grid operators
• Consumers
• Power exchanges
• Regulators

This unified system will bring interoperability, transparency, and real-time visibility to the sector, enabling innovations such as:

• Peer-to-peer energy trading
• Aggregated demand-response programmes
• Seamless carbon offset tracking
• Efficient renewable energy integration

Why Is It Needed?

Electricity in India is a concurrent subject, meaning both central and state governments share jurisdiction. This has led to:

• A highly fragmented ecosystem
• Disparate and non-interoperable digital systems
• A patchwork of state-level utilities functioning in silos

The result is what experts describe as “isolated digital islands” instead of a unified, national energy platform.

Four Key Challenges in India’s Power Sector

The IES seeks to address the core systemic challenges that have long plagued the power sector:

1. Absence of Unique Identifiers

There’s currently no unique digital ID for consumers, assets, or stakeholders, making seamless data exchange and tracking nearly impossible.

2. Lack of Real-Time, Harmonised Data

Decision-making across the power sector is delayed or inconsistent, due to the absence of unified and real-time datasets accessible across stakeholders.

3. Inability to Scale Digital Solutions

Innovative startups and digital solution providers face challenges in scaling operations, as they must build separate integrations for each state or utility’s proprietary platform.

4. No Interoperability Between Systems

Different discoms (power distribution companies) use closed, incompatible digital systems, preventing:

• Cross-discom transactions
• Inter-state data sharing
• Optimised power distribution

A Natural Extension of India’s DPI Success

The Government is positioning the India Energy Stack as the next phase in its DPI journey, following the remarkable success of:

• Aadhaar (Identity)
• UPI (Finance)
• CoWIN (Health)
• ONDC (Commerce)
• DigiLocker (Documents)

By extending this blueprint to energy, India could unlock:

• Transparent energy billing
• Smart metering at scale
• Empowered consumers with real-time usage data
• More efficient carbon trading mechanisms