Benefits of E-Governance and Indian Initiatives

What e-governance achieves, and how India uses it

Benefits of e-governance

To citizens:

• Convenience — services from home at any time, without travel or long queues.
• Speed — applications, payments and certificates are processed faster.
• Transparency — clear rules and visible records reduce corruption and the need for middlemen.
• Lower cost and less paperwork — fewer visits and forms save money and time.
• Equal access — anyone with internet can reach the same services, wherever they live.

To government:

• Efficiency — automated processing handles more work with fewer errors.
• Better records and accountability — electronic records show who did what and when.
• Lower administrative cost — less printing, storage and manual handling.
• Better planning — data helps government design and target policies and welfare.

To society and the economy:

• Improves ease of doing business, encourages investment, reduces the misuse of public money, and helps deliver welfare benefits directly to the intended people.

E-governance initiatives in India (as public programmes)

India has adopted e-governance widely. The broad national programme to make government services available electronically and to build the required digital infrastructure is commonly known as Digital India. Under this and related efforts, many kinds of services have moved online:

• Online tax services — electronic filing of income-tax returns and of GST for businesses.
• Citizen service centres — common service centres and state portals (for example, state-run e-Seva/Setu-type centres) where citizens can pay bills and obtain certificates and services in one place, including in rural areas.
• Digital identity — a unique identity number scheme that lets citizens verify who they are for many services electronically.
• Direct benefit transfer — welfare payments and subsidies sent straight into citizens' bank accounts, reducing leakage and middlemen.
• Land and property records online — computerised land records that citizens can view and use.
• Online public services — booking railway tickets, applying for a passport, paying utility bills, and registering grievances through government portals.
• Digital lockers — a facility for citizens to store and share official documents in electronic form.
• Unified digital payments — the UPI system that makes instant electronic payment easy for citizens and government alike.

(These are named here as public government programmes, not as commercial products.)

Challenges of e-governance …