NEW DELHI, India, Oct. 22: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration, in power since May 2014, has implemented a series of large-scale programs that have reshaped India’s economy, infrastructure, and welfare landscape. The government’s financial-inclusion drive began with the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, which opened more than 400 million bank accounts and brought millions into the formal banking system.
Supported by the Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile framework, direct benefit transfers now reach beneficiaries digitally. The PM KISAN income-support scheme has distributed about US $24 billion to farmers, while the PM SVANidhi initiative has provided micro-loans to 9.6 million street vendors, generating over 550 million digital transactions. In social welfare, the Ujjwala Yojana has provided more than 103 million free liquefied-petroleum-gas connections to low-income women, improving access to clean cooking fuel.
The Swachh Bharat Mission has achieved open-defecation-free status in over 95 percent of Indian villages. Under Ayushman Bharat, millions of low-income families have received health-insurance cards and treatment under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana. Digital payments have seen explosive growth. The Unified Payments Interface now processes more than 20 billion transactions each month, with international adoption in the UAE, Singapore, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, France, and Mauritius.
The government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce has crossed 200 million transactions, and the eSanjeevani telemedicine platform has completed hundreds of millions of online consultations. Major economic reforms include the rollout of the nationwide Goods and Services Tax in 2017, creating a unified indirect-tax regime. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, enacted in 2016, established a time-bound corporate-resolution framework. In 2019, the corporate tax rate was reduced to 22 percent for existing firms and 15 percent for new manufacturers.
Digital infrastructure powers India’s new economy
Production-Linked Incentive schemes covering 14 sectors have committed approximately US $23 billion in investments. Between 2014 and 2025, India recorded about US $90 billion in foreign direct investment inflows. Infrastructure expansion has been a defining feature of the decade. The national-highway network has grown from 91,000 kilometers in 2014 to roughly 146,000 kilometers by mid-2025, an increase of about 60 percent.
The Saubhagya electrification program brought power connections to 28.6 million households, and Indian Railways has achieved 99 percent electrification of its broad-gauge routes. More than 150 Vande Bharat Express trains now operate on major corridors. The UDAN regional-connectivity program has launched over 600 routes, increasing the number of operational airports from 74 in 2014 to 157 by 2025.
In housing and water supply, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana has completed 28.2 million homes in rural areas. The Jal Jeevan Mission has expanded piped-water coverage to nearly all villages. The BharatNet project has laid about 690,000 kilometers of optical fiber, linking 214,000 Gram Panchayats to broadband internet. In renewable energy, solar capacity has reached 127 gigawatts, and India has surpassed 50 percent of its installed electricity capacity from non-fossil-fuel sources.
Space missions showcase India’s scientific progress
Entrepreneurship has expanded under the MUDRA Yojana, which has issued more than 520 million loans totaling US $385 billion since 2015. The Startup India program has registered more than 159,000 enterprises, making India one of the world’s largest startup ecosystems. The National Education Policy 2020 replaced a 34-year-old framework, modernizing curricula from early childhood to higher education.
In July 2024, the government introduced new criminal-law codes that replaced the Indian Penal Code and related colonial-era laws. Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, was revoked in 2019 and the region was reorganized into two union territories. In aviation and space, the Navi Mumbai International Airport opened in October 2025 at a cost of about US $2.2 billion.
India’s space agency achieved the first successful landing near the lunar south pole with the Chandrayaan-3 mission in August 2023 and placed the Aditya-L1 solar-observation satellite in halo orbit in 2024. Test flights for the Gaganyaan human-spaceflight program began later that year. As of July 2025, Modi became India’s second-longest-serving prime minister, completing more than 4,000 consecutive days in office. The record reflects a decade of sustained government programs, infrastructure investment, and institutional reform across multiple sectors. – By Content Syndication Services.