Ministry
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is the Government of India's apex department for information technology, electronics and internet governance. It owns the state's digital-public-infrastructure programme (Digital India, DigiLocker, the Aadhaar authority) and writes the rules that govern online intermediaries and personal data. It is the institution that sets who may operate online in India, on what terms, and how citizens' data is handled.
Updated
- Headquarters
- Electronics Niketan, New Delhi
- Formed
- 19 July 2016 (elevated from the Department of Electronics and IT)
- Budget 2025-26
- Rs 26,026.25 crore (BE 2025-26, up from Rs 17,566.31 crore revised estimate for 2024-25)
- Primary statute
- Information Technology Act, 2000
Role
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is the Union government’s policy and delivery arm for the digital economy. It runs the Digital India programme and the digital public infrastructure built on it — including DigiLocker and the Aadhaar identity system through the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which sits under the ministry — and it houses the technical institutions of the Indian state’s IT capacity: the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the national cyber-incident agency CERT-In, the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), and the Controller of Certifying Authorities. It also administers the industrial push into electronics and semiconductor manufacturing (PLI schemes, the India Semiconductor Mission) and artificial intelligence (the IndiaAI Mission).
Its second, regulatory face makes it a genuine seat of power over the online sphere. Under the Information Technology Act, 2000 the ministry writes the rules that condition intermediaries’ legal safe harbour (the IT Rules 2021, amended in 2021, 2023 and again in 2026), and under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and its 2025 Rules it sets the national regime for how personal data may be collected and processed. Through these levers it shapes the terms on which platforms, apps and data-handlers operate in the country, alongside the Reserve Bank of India in payments and the ministry’s semiconductor and chip-manufacturing programmes.
Desk maintained by IndiaStand editorial cycles. Officeholders are transient; this dossier tracks the institution.
Timeline since 1947
- reference
Information Technology Act enacted
India's primary cyber-law, based on the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce, gave legal recognition to electronic records and created the intermediary safe-harbour regime (Section 79).
- reference
Digital India programme launched
The flagship programme to build population-scale digital infrastructure and deliver government services online was launched under the ministry's predecessor department.
- reference
MeitY constituted as a full ministry
The Department of Electronics and Information Technology was elevated into a standalone ministry, bifurcated from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.
- reference
IT Rules 2021 notified
The Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code Rules imposed due-diligence, grievance-redressal and traceability obligations on intermediaries; a 2023 amendment added an online-gaming framework and a government fact-check unit.
- reference
Digital Personal Data Protection Act passed
Parliament passed India's first standalone data-protection statute (Act 22 of 2023); it received Presidential assent on 11 August 2023.
- official
IndiaAI Mission approved
The Union Cabinet approved the IndiaAI Mission with an outlay of Rs 10,371.92 crore for compute, datasets, foundational models and skilling, administered by MeitY.
- official
Budget 2025-26 raises allocation
The Union Budget lifted MeitY's allocation to about Rs 26,026 crore, weighted toward electronics-manufacturing PLI, semiconductor incentives and the IndiaAI Mission.
- official
DPDP Rules 2025 notified
MeitY notified the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025, operationalising the 2023 Act in phases and bringing the provisions establishing the Data Protection Board into force.
- reference
IT Amendment Rules 2026 notified (synthetically generated information)
MeitY notified the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2026, defining 'synthetically generated information' and requiring intermediaries to label AI-generated content; per the notification the amendment took effect on 20 February 2026.
Frequently asked
- What is Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology?
- The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is the Government of India's apex department for information technology, electronics and internet governance. It owns the state's digital-public-infrastructure programme (Digital India, DigiLocker, the Aadhaar authority) and writes the rules that govern online intermediaries and personal data. It is the institution that sets who may operate online in India, on what terms, and how citizens' data is handled.
- When was Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology established?
- Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology was established 2016.
- What does Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology do?
- Its remit covers IT, electronics and internet policy, Digital public infrastructure and e-governance (Digital India, DigiLocker, UIDAI/Aadhaar), Intermediary regulation under the IT Act and IT Rules, Data protection (Digital Personal Data Protection Act and Rules), Cybersecurity (CERT-In) and electronics manufacturing (semiconductors, PLI, IndiaAI).
- What is the latest on Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology?
- As of 2026-07-05: IT Amendment Rules 2026 notified (synthetically generated information). MeitY notified the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2026, defining 'synthetically generated information' and requiring intermediaries to label AI-generated content; per the notification the amendment took effect on 20 February 2026.