India's Digital Leap: Internet Users Cross 109 Crore, BharatNet Reaches 2.21 Lakh Gram Panchayats
India's digital transformation has gathered fresh momentum, with the country's internet subscriber base crossing 109 crore and broadband connectivity reaching more than 2.21 lakh Gram Panchayats under the BharatNet programme, according to figures shared by the Centre in Parliament on Wednesday.
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Jitin Prasada said internet subscribers have surged from 25.15 crore in March 2014 to 109.27 crore in March 2026, underscoring the rapid expansion of digital connectivity over the past decade.
Telephone connectivity has also grown significantly during the period, with the number of connections increasing from 93.3 crore to over 133 crore.
The government said the BharatNet programme continues to extend high-speed broadband to rural India. As of June 2026, 2.21 lakh Gram Panchayats had been made service-ready, while BharatNet Points of Presence (PoPs) had become operational at 80,472 Gram Panchayats.
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To improve connectivity in underserved regions, 24,784 mobile towers had also been commissioned under the Digital Bharat Nidhi-funded mobile connectivity scheme by the end of June.
The government highlighted the rapid growth of India's Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), with UPI now serving more than 55.49 crore users and 6.5 crore merchants through 731 banks. According to the Centre, UPI accounts for 85 per cent of India's digital payment transactions and nearly half of all real-time digital payments globally.
The digital ecosystem has also expanded through Aadhaar, with more than 1.44 billion Aadhaar numbers generated and over Rs 52 lakh crore transferred through Aadhaar-enabled Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) across 318 government schemes run by 56 ministries.
On digital literacy, the government said over 6.39 crore people have been trained under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA), while the FutureSkills Prime platform has registered more than 34 lakh candidates, with over 23 lakh enrolled in or trained on emerging technology courses.
The Centre also highlighted its focus on cybersecurity and data protection through institutions such as CERT-In, the National Cyber Coordination Centre and the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C). It said the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, along with the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025, provides the country's legal framework for protecting personal data.
The government further informed Parliament that the IndiaAI Mission, with an outlay of Rs 10,371.92 crore over five years, is being implemented through seven key pillars, including AI computing infrastructure, indigenous foundation models, AI applications and startup support.
(With inputs from ANI)