project on digital marketing

Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Introduction
Social media marketing is the process of gaining website traffic or attention through social
media sites. Social media marketing programs usually center on efforts to create content that
attracts attention and encourages readers to share it across their social networks. The resulting
electronic word of mouth (eWoM) refers to any statement consumers share via the Internet (e.g.,
web sites, social networks, instant messages, news feeds) about an event, product, service, brand
or company. When the underlying message spreads from user to user and presumably resonates
because it appears to come from a trusted, third-party source, as opposed to the brand or
company itself, this form of marketing results in earned media rather than paid media.

1.2 Social media platforms
1.2.1

Social Networking Websites

Social networking websites allow individuals and businesses to interact with one another and
build relationships and communities online. When companies join these social channels,
consumers can interact with them directly.
That interaction can be more personal to users than traditional methods of outbound marketing &
advertising. Social networking sites act as word of mouth. Social networking sites
and blogs allow followers to “retweet” or “repost” comments made by others about a product
being promoted. By repeating the message, the user's connections are able to see the message,
therefore reaching more people. Because the information about the product is being put out there
and is getting repeated, more traffic is brought to the product/company.
Social networking websites are based on building virtual communities that allow consumers to
express their needs, wants and values, online. Social Media Marketing then connects these
consumers and audiences to businesses that share the same needs, wants and values.
Through social networking sites, companies can interact with individual followers. This personal
interaction can instill a feeling of loyalty into followers and potential customers. Also, by
choosing whom to follow on these sites, products can reach a very narrow target audience.
Social networking sites also include a vast amount of information about what products and
services prospective clients might be interested in. Through the use of new Semantic
Analysis technologies, marketers can detect buying signals, such as content shared by people
and questions posted online. Understanding of buying signals can help sales people target
relevant prospects and marketers run micro-targeted campaigns.
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In order to integrate Social Networks within their marketing strategies, companies have to
develop a marketing model. In a marketing model (SNeM2S) based on Social Networks is
provided. The model includes the following steps:


Selection of potential Social Networks to use;



Definition of a financial plan;



Definition of organizational structures to manage the Social Network in the market;



Selection of target;



Promotion of products and services;



Performance measures

Social Networking is used by 76% of businesses today. Business retailers have seen 133%
increases in their revenues from social media marketing.
1.2.2

Mobile phones

Mobile phone usage is beneficial for social media marketing because mobile phones have social
networking capabilities, allowing individuals immediate web browsing and access to social
networking sites. Mobile phones have grown at a rapid rate, fundamentally altering the path-topurchase process by allowing consumers to easily obtain pricing and product information in real
time and allowing companies to constantly remind and update their followers. Many companies
are now putting QR (Quick Response) codes along with products for individuals to access the
company website or online services with their smart-phones. Retailers use QR codes to facilitate
consumer interaction with brands by linking the code to brand websites, promotions, product
information, or any other mobile-enabled content. Mobile devices and internet also influence the
way consumers interact with media and has many further implications for TV ratings,
advertising, mobile commerce and more. Mobile media consumption such as mobile audio
streaming or mobile video are on the rise – in the United States, more than 100 million users are
projected to access online video content via mobile device. Mobile video revenue consists of
pay-per-view downloads, advertising, and subscriptions. As of 2013, worldwide mobile phone
internet user penetration was 73.4%. In 2017, figures suggest that more than 90% of internet
users will access online content through their phones.
1.2.3 Strategies
There are two basic strategies for engaging the social media as marketing tools:


The passive approach
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Social media can be a useful source of market information and customer voice. Blogs, content
communities and forums are platforms where individuals share their reviews and
recommendations of brands, products and services. Businesses are able to tap and analyze the
customer voice generated in social media for marketing purposes; in this sense the social media
is an inexpensive source of market intelligence which can be used by marketers to track
problems and market opportunities. For example, the internet erupted with videos and pictures of
iphone 6 bend test which showed that the coveted phone would bend merely by hand. The socalled “bend gate” controversy created confusion amongst customers who had waited months for
the launch of the latest rendition of the iPhone. However Apple promptly issued a statement
saying that the problem was extremely rare and that the company had taken several steps to make
the mobile device robust. Unlike traditional market research methods such as surveys, focus
groups and data mining which are time consuming and costly, marketers can now utilize social
media to obtain ‘live’ information about consumer behavior. This can be extremely useful in a
highly dynamic market structure in which we now live.


The active approach

Social media can be used not only as public relations and direct marketing tools but also as
communication channels (targeting specific audiences with social media influencers) and as
customer engagement tools. There are several examples of firms initiating some form of online
dialog with the public to foster relations with customers. According to Constantinides, Lorenzo
and Gómez Borja (2008) "Business executives like Jonathan Swartz, President and CEO of Sun
Microsystems, Steve Jobs CEO of Apple Computers, and McDonalds Vice President Bob
Langert post regularly in their CEO blogs, encouraging customers to interact and freely express
their feelings, ideas, suggestions or remarks about their postings, the company or its
products".Using customer influencers (for example popular bloggers) can be a very efficient and
cost-effective method to launch new products or services ] Narendra Modi current prime minister
of India ranks only second after President Barack Obama in number of fans on his official
Facebook page at 21.8 million and counting. Modi employed social media platforms to
circumvent traditional media channels to reach out to the young and urban population of India
which is estimated to be 200 million. His appeal was further buttressed by the recent crowd
turnout at Madison square garden.
1.2.4

Engagement

In the context of the social web, engagement means that customers and stakeholders are
participants rather than viewers. Social media in business allows all consumers to express and
share an opinion or an idea somewhere along the business’s path to market. Each participating
customer becomes part of the marketing department, as other customers read their comments or
reviews. The engagement process is then fundamental to successful social media marketing.
With the advent of social media marketing it has become increasingly important to gain customer
interest which can eventually be translated into buying behavior. New online marketing concepts
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of engagement and loyalty have emerged which aim to build customer participation and
reputation. Engagement in social media for the purpose of your social media strategy is divided
into two parts:
1. Proactive posting of new content and conversations, as well as the sharing of content and
information from others
2. Reactive conversations with social media users responding to those who reach out to your
social media profiles through commenting or messaging
Traditional media is limited to one way interaction with customers or ‘push and tell’ where only
specific information is given to the customer without any mechanism to obtain customer
feedback. On the other hand, social media is participative where customer are able to share their
views on brands, products and services. Traditional media gives the control of message to the
marketer whereas social media shifts the balance to the consumer.

Figure 1

1.2.5

Betty White

Social networking sites can have a large impact on the outcome of events. In 2010, a Facebook
campaign surfaced in the form of a petition. Users virtually signed a petition asking NBC
Universal to have actress Betty White host Saturday Night Live. Once signed, users forwarded
the petition to all of their followers. The petition went viral and on May 8, 2010, Betty White
hosted SNL.
1.2.6

2008 US presidential election

The 2008 US presidential campaign had a huge presence on social networking sites. Barack
Obama, a virtually unknown Democratic candidate, utilized 15 different social media websites to
form relationships with the millions of American citizens who utilize those networks. His social
networking profile pages were constantly being updated and interacting with followers. By the
end of his campaign, Obama had 5 million social media network supporters (2.5 million on
Facebook and 115,000 on Twitter). The use of social networking sites in his marketing campaign
gave Barack Obama’s campaign access to e-mail addresses, as posted on social network profile

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pages. This allowed the Democratic Party to launch e-mail campaigns asking for votes and
campaign donations.
1.2.7

Local businesses

Small businesses also use social networking sites as a promotional technique. Businesses can
follow individuals social networking site uses in the local area and advertise specials and deals.
These can be exclusive and in the form of “get a free drink with a copy of this tweet”. This type
of message encourages other locals to follow the business on the sites in order to obtain the
promotional deal. In the process, the business is getting seen and promoting itself (brand
visibility).
1.2.8

Kony 2012

A short film released on March 5, 2012, by humanitarian group Invisible Children, Inc. This 29
minute video aimed at making Joseph Kony, an Court fugitive, famous worldwide in order to
have support for his arrest by December 2012; the time when the campaign ends. The video went
viral within the first six days after its launch, reaching 100 million views on
both YouTube and Vimeo. According to research done by Visible Measures, the Kony 2012 short
film became the fastest growing video campaign, and most viral video, to reach 100 million
views in 6 days followed by Susan Boyle performance on Britain’s Got Talent that reached 70
million views in 6 days.
1.2.9

Nike #MakeItCount

In early 2012, Nike introduced its Make It Count social media campaign. The campaign kickoff
began YouTubers Casey Neistat and Max Joseph launching a YouTube video, where they
traveled 34,000 miles to visit 16 cities in 13 countries. They promoted the #makeitcount hashtag,
which millions of consumers shared via Twitter and Instagram by uploading photos and sending
tweets. The #MakeItCount YouTube video went viral and Nike saw an 18% increase in profit in
2012, the year this product was released
1.2.10 Lay's-Do Us a Flavor
In 2012, Lays created an annual social media campaign that allowed fans to create their own
flavor for a $1 million prize for whatever flavor was voted the best. After 3.8 million
submissions from fans who participated, the top three choices were Cheesy Garlic Bread,
Chicken & Waffles, and Sriracha. The fans were now able to purchase the three flavors in stores
then cast their vote on Facebook or Twitter for the best flavor. Lays gained a 12% increase in
sales during the contest. Garlic Cheesy Bread was eventually named the winner of the contest.
1.2.11 Purposes and Tactics
One of the main purposes in employing Social Media in marketing is as a communications tool
that makes the companies accessible to those interested in their product and make them visible to
those who have no knowledge of their products. These companies use social media to create
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buzz, learn from and target customers. Its the only form of marketing that can finger consumers
at each and every stage of the consumer decision journey. Marketing through social media has
other benefits as well. Of the top 10 factors that correlate with a strong Google organic search,
seven are social media dependent. This means that if brands are less or non active on social
media, they tend to show up less on Google searches. While platforms such
as Twitter, Facebook and Google+ have a larger amount of monthly users, The visual media
sharing based mobile platforms however, garner a higher interaction rate in comparison and have
registered the fastest growth and have changed the ways in which consumers engage with brand
content. Instagram has an interaction rate of 1.46% with an average of 130 million users monthly
as opposed to Twitter which has a .03% interaction rate with an average of 210 million monthly
users. Unlike traditional media that are often cost-prohibitive to many companies, a social media
strategy does not require astronomical budgeting. To this end, companies make use of platforms
such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram in order to reach audiences much wider than
through the use of traditional print/TV/radio advertisements alone at a fraction of the cost, as
most social networking sites can be used at no cost. This has changed the ways that companies
approach interact with customers, as a substantial percentage of consumer interactions are now
being carried out over online platforms with much higher visibility. Customers can now post
reviews of products and services, rate customer service and ask questions or voice concerns
directly to companies through social media platforms. Thus social media marketing is also used
by businesses in order to build relationships of trust with consumers. To this aim, companies may
also hire personnel to specifically handle these social media interactions, who usually report
under the title of online community managers. Handling these interactions in a satisfactory
manner can result in an increase of consumer trust.

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Strategies of Digital Marketing

Strategies of Digital Marketing
1.3.1 Twitter
Twitter allows companies to promote their products in short messages limited to 140 characters
which appear on followers’ home pages. Messages can link to the product’s website, Face book
profile, photos, videos, etc. Twitter is also used by companies to provide customer service. Some
companies make support available 24/7 and answer promptly, thus improving brand loyalty and
appreciation.

Figure 1

1.3.2 Facebook
Facebook pages are far more detailed than Twitter accounts. They allow a product to provide
videos, photos, and longer descriptions, and testimonials as other followers can comment on the
product pages for others to see. Facebook can link back to the product’s Twitter page as well as
send out event reminders.A study from 2011 attributed 84% of "engagement" or clicks to Likes
that link back to Facebook advertising. By 2014 Facebook had restricted the content published
from businesses' and brands' pages. Adjustments in Facebook algorithms have reduced the
audience for non-paying business pages (that have at least 500,000 "Likes") from 16% in 2012
down to 2% in February 2014.
1.3.3 Google
Google+, in addition to providing pages and some features of Facebook, is also able to integrate
with the Google search engine. Other Google products are also integrated, such as Google
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Adwords and Google Maps. With the development of Google Personalized Search and other
location-based search services, Google+ allows for targeted advertising methods, navigation
services, and other forms of location-based marketing and promotion. Google+ can also be
beneficial for other digital marketing campaigns, as well as social media marketing. Google+
authorship was known to have a significant benefit on a website's search engine optimisation,
before the relationship was removed by Google. Google+ is one of the fastest growing social
media networks and can benefit almost any business.

Figure 2

1.3.4

LinkedIn

LinkedIn, a professional business-related networking site, allows companies to create
professional profiles for themselves as well as their business to network and meet
others. Through the use of widgets, members can promote their various social networking
activities, such as Twitter stream or blog entries of their product pages, onto their LinkedIn
profile page. LinkedIn provides its members the opportunity to generate sales leads and business
partners. Members can use “Company Pages” similar to Facebook pages to create an area that
will allow business owners to promote their products or services and be able to interact with their
customers. Due to spread of spam mail sent to job seeker, leading companies prefer to use
LinkedIn for employee's recruitment instead using different job portals. Additionally, companies
have voiced a preference for the amount of information that can be gleaned from LinkedIn
profile, versus a limited email.
1.3.5

Yelp

Yelp consists of a comprehensive online index of business profiles. Businesses are searchable by
location, similar to Yellow Pages. The website is operational in seven different countries,
including the United States and Canada. Business account holders are allowed to create, share,
and edit business profiles. They may post information such as the business location, contact
information, pictures, and service information.
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1.3.6

Foursquare

Foursquare is a location based social networking website, where users can check into locations
via a Swarm app on their smartphones. Foursquare allows businesses to create a page or create a
new/claim an existing venue.

Figure 3
1.3.7 Instagram
In May 2014, Instagram had over 200 million users. The user engagement rate of Instagram was
15 times higher than of Facebook and 25 times higher than that of Twitter. According to Scott
Galloway, the founder of L2 and a professor of marketing at New York University’s Stern School
of Business, latest studies estimate that 93% of prestige brands have an active presence on
Instagram and include it in their marketing mix. When it comes to brands and businesses,
Instagram's goal is to help companies to reach their respective audiences through captivating
imagery in a rich, visual environment. Moreover, Instagram provides a platform where user and

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company can communicate publicly and directly, making itself an ideal platform for companies
to connect with their current and potential customers.
Many brands are now heavily using this mobile app to boost their visual marketing strategy.
Instagram can be used to gain the necessary momentum needed to capture the attention of the
market segment that has an interest in the product offering or services. As Instagram is supported
by Apple and android system, it can be easily accessed by smart phone users. Moreover, it can be
accessed by Internet as well. Thus, the marketers see it as a potential platform to expand their
brands exposure to the public, especially the younger target group. On top of this, marketers do
not only use social media for traditional Internet advertising, but they also encourage users to
create attention for a certain brand. This generally create an opportunity for greater brand
exposure. Furthermore, marketers are also using the platform to drive social shopping and inspire
people to collect and share pictures of their favorite products. Many big names have already
jumped on board: Starbucks, MTV, Nike, Marc Jacobs, Red Bull are a few examples of
multinationals that adopted the mobile photo app early.Instagram has proven itself a powerful
platform for marketers to reach their customers and prospects through sharing pictures and brief
messages. According to a study by Simply Measured, 71% of the world’s largest brands are now
using Instagram as a marketing channel. For companies, Instagram can be used as a tool to
connect and communicate with current and potential customers. The company can present a
more personal picture of their brand, and by doing so the company conveys a better and true
picture of itself. The idea of Instagram pictures lies on on-the-go, a sense that the event is
happening right now, and that adds another layer to the personal and accurate picture of the
company. Another option Instagram provides the opportunity for companies to reflect a true
picture of the brand through the perspective of the customers, for instance, using the usergenerated contents thought the hashtags encouragement. Other than the filters and hashtags
functions, the Instagram’s 15-second videos and the recently added ability to send private
messages between users have opened new opportunities for brands to connect with customers in
a new extent, further promoting effective marketing on Instagram.
1.3.8

YouTube

YouTube is another popular avenue; advertisements are done in a way to suit the target audience.
The type of language used in the commercials and the ideas used to promote the product reflect
the audience's style and taste.Also, the ads on this platform are usually in sync with the content
of the video requested, this is another advantage YouTube brings for advertisers. Certain ads are
presented with certain videos since the content is relevant. Promotional opportunities such as
sponsoring a video is also possible on YouTube, "for example, a user who searches for a
YouTube video on dog training may be presented with a sponsored video from a dog toy
company in results along with other videos." YouTube also enable publishers to earn money
through its YouTube Partner Program.

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Figure 4
1.3.9

Social Bookmarking Sites

Websites such as Delicious, Digg, Slashdot, diigo, stumbleupon and Reddit are popular social
bookmarking sites used in social media promotion. Each of these sites is dedicated to the
collection, curation, and organization of links to other websites. This process is crowdsourced,
allowing members to sort and prioritize links by relevance and general category. Due to the large
user bases of these websites, any link from one of them to another, smaller website usually
results in a flash crowd. In addition to user generated promotion, these sites also offer
advertisements within individual user communities and categories. Because ads can be placed in
designated communities with a very specific target audience and demographic, they have far
greater potential for traffic generation than ads selected simply through cookie and browser
history. Additionally, some of these websites have also implemented measures to make ads more
relevant to users by allowing users to vote on which ones will be shown on pages they
frequent. The ability to redirect large volumes of web traffic and target specific, relevant
audiences makes social bookmarking sites a valuable asset for social media marketers.
1.3.10 Blogs
Platforms like LinkedIn create an environment for companies and clients to connect online.
Companies that recognize the need for information, originality, and accessibility employ blogs to
make their products popular and unique, and ultimately reach out to consumers who are privy to
social media. Blogs allow a product or company to provide longer descriptions of products or
services, can include testimonials and can link to and from other social network and blog pages.
Blogs can be updated frequently and are promotional techniques for keeping customers, and also
for acquiring followers and subscribers who can then be directed to social network pages.Online
communities can enable a business to reach the clients of other businesses using the platform. To
allow firms to measure their standing in the corporate world, sites like Glassdoor enable
employees to place evaluations of their companies Some businesses opt out of integrating social
media platforms into their traditional marketing regimen. There are also specific corporate
standards that apply when interacting online. To maintain an advantage in a business-consumer
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relationship, businesses have to be aware of four key assets that consumers maintain:
information, involvement, community, and control.
1.3.11 Tumblr
Tumblr first launched ad products on May 29, 2012. Rather than relying on simple banner ads,
Tumblr requires advertisers to create a Tumblr blog so the content of those blogs can be featured
through the site. In one year, four native ad formats were created on web and mobile, and had
more than 100 brands advertising on Tumblr with 500 cumulative sponsored posts.
Ad formats


Sponsored Mobile Post – Advertisements (Advertisers’ blog posts) will
show up on user’s Dashboard when the user is on a mobile device such as smartphones and
tablets, allowing them to like, reblog, and share the sponsored post.



Sponsored Web Post – "Largest in-stream ad unit on the web" that
catches the users’ attention when looking at their Dashboard through their computer or
laptop. It also allows the viewers to like, reblog, and share it.



Sponsored Radar – Radar picks up exceptional posts from the whole
Tumblr community based on their originality and creativity. It is placed on the right side next
to the Dashboard, and it typically earns 120 million daily impressions. Sponsored radar
allows advertisers to place their posts there to have an opportunity to earn new followers,
Reblogs, and Likes.



Sponsored Spotlight – Spotlight is a directory of some of the popular
blogs throughout the community and a place where users can find new blogs to follow.
Advertisers can choose one category out of fifty categories that they can have their blog
listed on there.

These posts can be one or more of the following: images, photo sets, animated GIFs, video,
audio, and text posts. For the users to differentiate the promoted posts to the regular users’ posts,
the promoted posts have a dollar symbol on the corner. On May 6, 2014 Tumblr announced
customization and theming on mobile apps for brands to advertise.

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Introduction to digital India
1.4 Digital India
Digital India is an initiative of the Government of India to ensure that government services are
made available to citizens electronically by improving online infrastructure and by increasing
internet connectivity. It was launched on 1 July 2015 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The
initiative includes plans to connect rural areas with high-speed internet networks. Digital India
has three core components. These include:


The creation of digital infrastructure



Delivering services digitally



Digital literacy

Figure 5

A two-way platform will be created where both the service providers and the consumers stand to
benefit. The scheme will be monitored and controlled by the Digital India Advisory group which
will be chaired by the Ministry of Communications and IT. It will be an inter-Ministerial
initiative where all ministries and departments shall offer their own services to the
public Healthcare, Education,Judicial services etc. The Public–private partnership model shall be
adopted selectively. In addition, there are plans to restructure the National Informatics Centre.
This project is one among the top priority projects of the Modi Administration.
1.4.1 Project

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Broadband in 2.5 lakh villages, universal phone connectivity, Net Zero Imports by 2020, 400,000
Public Internet Access Points, Wi-fi in 2.5 lakh schools, all universities; Public wi-fi hotspots for
citizens, Digital Inclusion: 1.7 Cr trained for IT, Telecom and Electronics Jobs Job creation:
Direct 1.7 Cr. and Indirect at least 8.5 Cr. e-Governance & eServices: Across government India
to be leader in IT use in services – health, education, banking Digitally empowered citizens –
public cloud, internet access. The Government of India entity Bharat Broadband Network
Limited which executes the National Optical Fibre Network project will be the custodian
of Digital India (DI) project. BBNL had ordered United Telecoms Limited to connect 250,000
villages through GPON to ensure FTTH based broadband. This will provide the first basic setup
to achieve towards Digital India and is expected to be completed by 2017. Optical fibre cables
have been laid out in more than 68000 village panchayats.
1.4.2 Pillars
There are nine pillars of Digital India Programme.
1. Broadband Highways
2. Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity
3. Public Internet Access Programme
4. e-Governance – Reforming Government through Technology
5. eKranti - Electronic delivery of services
6. Information for All
7. Electronics Manufacturing
8. IT for Jobs
9. Early Harvest Programmes
1.4.3 Services
Some of the facilities which will be provided through this initiative are Digital Locker, eeduction, e-health, e-sign and national scholarship portal. As the part of Digital India, Indian
government planned to launch Botnet cleaning centers.
1.4.4 DigiLocker
Digital Locker facility will help citizens to digitally store their important documents like PAN
card, passport, mark sheets and degree certificates. Digital Locker will provide secure access to
Government issued documents. It uses authenticity services provided by Aadhaar. It is aimed at
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eliminating the use of physical documents and enables sharing of verified electronic documents
across government agencies. Digital Locker provides a dedicated personal storage space in the
cloud to citizens, linked to citizens Aadhaar number. Digital Locker will reduce the
administrative overhead of government departments and agencies created due to paper work.
1.4.5 Other Important Projects of DI
National Center for Flexible Electronics (NCFlexE): is an initiative of Government of India to
promote research and innovation in the emerging area of Flexible Electronics.BPO Policy for All
Round Development: BPO Policy has been approved to create at-least one BPO centre in each
North Eastern state and also in smaller / mofussil towns of other states.
1.4.6 Digital India Week
At the launch ceremony of Digital India Week by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, top CEOs
from India and abroad committed to invest Rs 4.5 lakh crore (~70 BUSD with 1 USD=Rs65)
towards this initiative. The CEOs said the investments would be utilitized towards making
smartphones and internet devices at an affordable price in India which would help generate jobs
in India as well as reduce the cost of importing them from abroad. Reliance Industries Chairman
Mukesh Ambani said his company would invest Rs 2.5 lakh crore across different Digital India
heads, which have the potential to create employment for over five lakh people.He also
announced setting up of the 'Jio Digital India Start Up Fund' to encourage young entrepreneurs
who are setting up businesses focused around the Digital India initiative. Silicon Valley Tech
Giants from Silicon Valley, San Jose, California expressed their support for Digital India
during PM Narendra Modi's visit in September 2015. Facebook's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg,
changed his DP in support of Digital India and started a chain on Facebook and promised to
work on WiFi Hotspots in rural India. Google committed to provide broadband connectivity on
500 railway stations in India. Microsoft agreed to provide broadband connectivity to five lakh
villages in India and make India its cloud hub through Indian data centres. Qualcomm announced
an investment of $150 million in Indian startups. The Digital India programme is a flagship
programme of the Government of India with a vision to transform India into a digitally
empowered society and knowledge economy.

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Figure 6
The journey of e-Governance initiatives in India took a broader dimension in mid 90s for wider
sectoral applications with emphasis on citizen-centric services. Later on, many States/UTs started
various e-Governance projects. Though these e-Governance projects were citizen-centric, they
could make lesser than the desired impact. Government of India launched National eGovernance Plan (NeGP) in 2006. 31 Mission Mode Projects covering various domains were
initiated. Despite the successful implementation of many e-Governance projects across the
country, e-Governance as a whole has not been able to make the desired impact and fulfil all its
objectives. It has been felt that a lot more thrust is required to ensure e-Governance in the
country promote inclusive growth that covers electronic services, products, devices and job
opportunities. Moreover, electronic manufacturing in the country needs to be strengthened. In
order to transform the entire ecosystem of public services through the use of information
technology, the Government of India has launched the Digital India programme with the vision
to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
1.4.7 Vision Areas of Digital India
The Digital India programme is centred on three key vision areas:
Digital Infrastructure as a Core Utility to Every Citizen Governance and Services on Demand
Digital Empowerment of Citizens ,Digital Infrastructure as a Utility to Every Citizen,
Availability of high speed internet as a core utility for delivery of services to citizens, Cradle to
grave digital identity that is unique, lifelong, online and authenticable to every citizen, Mobile
phone & bank account enabling citizen participation in digital & financial space
1.4.8 Vision Area 1: Digital infrastructure as a utility to every citizen
1.4.8.1 Infrastructure

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A well connected nation is a prerequisite to a well served nation. Once the remotest of the Indian
villagers are digitally connected through broadband and high speed internet, then delivery of
electronic government services to every citizen, targeted social benefits, and financial inclusion
can be achieved in reality. One of the key areas on which the vision of Digital India is centered is
“digital infrastructure as a utility to every citizen”.A key component under this vision is high
speed internet as a core utility to facilitate online delivery of various services. It is planned to set
up enabling infrastructure for digital identity, financial inclusion and ensure easy availability of
common services centers. It is also proposed to provide citizens with “digital lockers” which
would be sharable private spaces on a public cloud, and where documents issued by Government
departments and agencies could be stored for easy online access. It is also planned to ensure that
the cyberspace is made safe and secure.
1.4.8.2 High-speed internet as a core utility
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have the potential of not only bridging the
great digital divide in the country (in terms of easy and effective access to ICTs) but also of
positively contributing to the growth of the economy, employment and productivity.The
emphasis is on providing high speed internet connectivity across the length and breadth of the
country by deploying ICT infrastructure, optical fibre, and last-mile connectivity options offered
by wireless technologies in a manner that is affordable, reliable and competitive.
The plan of action and timelines are as follows:
1

Focus Area Intended Outcome

2
3
4
5
6
7
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Broadband for rural areas
Coverage for 2,50,000 Gram Panchayats (GPs) by 2016-17
Broadband for urban areas
Virtual Network Operators for service delivery;
Mandatory communication infrastructure in new urban settlements and buildings
National Information Infrastructure
Integration of all core ICT infrastructure built under National e-Governance Plan (NeGP)
for greater efficiency and synergy;
Nationwide coverage by March 2017
Universal access to mobile connectivity
Greater network penetration;
Coverage for 55,619 uncovered villages by 2018
Public Internet Access Programme under National Rural Internet Mission
Coverage for 2,50,000 GPs by 2016-17 through Common Services Centers (CSCs);
Recasting of 1,50,000 post offices as multi-service centres by 2015-16

9
10
11
12
13
14
15

1.4.8.3 Cradle-to-grave digital identity
The ideal identity is one that is unique, singularly sufficient, robust enough to disallow duplicate
and fake records, easily and digitally authenticable in an inexpensive manner, and
17

lifelong.Vision-Digital-IndiaAadhaar, a 12-digit individual identification number issued by the
Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on behalf of the Government of India, meets
these requirements. It is essentially a paperless online anytime-anywhere identity assigned to a
resident to cover his/her entire lifetime. The verification of identity is done online with the help
of authentication devices which connect to UIDAI’s Central Identity Repository and return a
‘yes’ or ‘no’ response to the basic query, “Is the person who he/she claims to be?”, based on the
demographic and biometric data available with UIDAI. Aadhaar can be used by any application
which needs to establish the identity of a resident and/or provide secure access for the resident to
services/benefits/entitlements offered by the application.
1.4.8.4 Participation in digital & financial space through mobiles & banking
Indian telecom sector is the world’s fastest growing telecom sector. The massive and growing
penetration of mobile phones in India, especially in rural areas, provides a ready and widespread
base for access to and delivery of public services electronically. Data access through mobiles
continues to gain popularity, and as on date, around 80 per cent of internet users in India access
internet through mobile devices. This holds great promise and potential for e-governance in
general and digital-cum-financial inclusion in particular.bankIn the mobile space, DeitY has
launched Mobile Seva, a revolutionary whole-of-government mobile governance initiative,
enabling government departments and agencies across the nation to deliver public services to
citizens and businesses through mobile devices across various mobile-based channels such as
SMS, USSD, mobile apps, and voice/ IVRS.In the financial space, DeitY has collaborated with
NSDL Database Management Limited (NDML) for providing PayGov, a centralized platform for
facilitating all government departments and services to collect online payments from citizens for
public services. PayGov offers an end-to-end transactional experience for citizens who can opt
from various payment options such as Net Banking (65+ banks), debit cards, credit cards, cash
cards/ prepaid cards/ wallets, and NEFT/ RTGS, etc.The 'Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana' has
been launched as a national mission encompassing an integrated approach to bring about
comprehensive financial inclusion of all the households in the country. The plan envisages
universal access to banking facilities with at least one basic banking account per household,
financial literacy, access to credit, insurance and pension facility. It also envisages channeling all
government benefits to the beneficiaries’ bank accounts.

18

Figure 7

1.4.8.5 Easy access to a Common Service Centre (CSC)
Implemented under the NeGP formulated by DeitY, the CSCs are ICT-enabled front-end service
delivery points (kiosks) at the village level for delivery of government, financial, social and
private sector services in the areas of agriculture, health, education, entertainment, banking,
insurance, pension, utility payments, etc.CSCs operate within a public-private-partnership (PPP)
model and a 3-tier structure consisting of the CSC operator (known as the Village Level
Entrepreneur or VLE), the Service Centre Agency (SCA) for establishing CSCs in a zone
consisting of a few districts, and a State Designated Agency (SDA) for managing the
implementation in the State. CSCs enable government, private and social sector organizations to
align their social and commercial goals for the benefit of the rural population in the remotest
corners of the country through a combination of IT-based as well as non-IT-based services.The
initial target was to establish 1,00,000 CSCs in 6,00,000 villages in the ratio of one CSC for
every 6 villages. As on date, more than 1,37,000 CSCs are operational across the country. Under
the proposed CSC 2.0 programme, it is planned to increase the number of CSCs to 2,50,000
(covering all panchayats) to facilitate easier access to CSCs for the citizens.
What is in it for the citizens?
Current scenario for a villager without easy access to a CSC







Inadequate access to government services and internet.
Changed scenario
Internet connectivity is available through the CSC.
The neighbourhood CSC is a convenient and friendly place to know and avail G2C
services, banking services (including loans) and also to learn about suitable agricultural
practices.
Several B2C services are available too in the CSC.
19



Family members can learn computer skills at the CSC and also undergo vocational
trainings for better family income.

1.4.8.6 Shareable private space on a public cloud
Easy and authentication-based access to a digital locker, i.e. a shareable private space on a public
cloud, can greatly facilitate paperless transactions. Citizens can digitally store Governmentissued digital documents and certificates and share them with various agencies without having to
submit or send physical documents or copies. Digital Locker to Citizens – A Game Changer
Current Scenario:


Citizens need to submit paper documents to avail government services.

How Digital India initiative will impact:






Government of India would provide a digital private space, i.e. Digital Locker, to every
citizen.
The ‘Digital Locker’ would enable citizens to securely store all their important documents
and credential.
The electronic documents can be shared with public agencies or others without the need to
physically submit them.
Such a ‘digital locker’ will greatly improve citizen convenience and usher in paperless
transactions across the entire ecosystem of public services.
In a situation of disaster, e.g. flood, storm, fire, etc, when citizens may loose paper
documents, documents in the digital repository would be accessible for them anytime,
anywhere to avail government or private services.

The digital locker would have a collection of repositories (digital repository) for issuing
authorities (issuer) to upload their documents (electronic document) in a standard format.
Personal locker provided to citizens would also act as a platform for storing the links (termed as
Document URI) for accessing the documents directly from these repositories. This platform
would enable the citizens to securely share their documents with the service providers who can
also directly access public documents from the issuing authority through an authenticated route.
1.4.8.7 Safe and secure cyber-space
Cyberspace is where all online digital assets, protocols, identities etc. reside and interact and
transact. It is imperative that cyberspace be made safe and secure for all organizations and users.
The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (ICERT/ CERT-In) of DeitY hosts a
comprehensive “secure your PC” portal at ( http://www.cert-in.org.in/secureyourpc.in/ (link is
external) SPC_colored_English/large/index.html ) with guidelines and measures for users against
risks and threats. Further, a National Coordination Centre on Cyber Security has been proposed
as one of the key projects under Digital India to provide safe and secure cyber space.
20

1.4.9 Vision Area 2: Governance and services on demand
Over the years, a large number of initiatives have been undertaken by various State Governments
and Central Ministries to usher in an era of e-governance. Sustained efforts have been made at
multiple levels to improve the delivery of public services and simplify the process of accessing
them. E-governance in India has steadily evolved from computerization of Government
1.4.9.1 Departments to initiatives that encapsulate the finer points of Governance, such as
citizen centricity, service orientation and transparency.
The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) was approved in 2006 to take a holistic view of egovernance initiatives across the country, integrating them into a collective vision. Around this
idea, a massive countrywide infrastructure reaching down to the remotest of villages is being
developed, and large-scale digitization of records is taking place to enable easy and reliable
access over the internet. The ultimate objective was to make all government services accessible
to the common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets, and ensure
efficiency, transparency, and reliability of such services at affordable costs to realise the basic
needs of the common man".Six elements are crucial for ensuring that governance and services
are made available on demand to all citizens and other stakeholders in the country.Seamlessly
integrated services across departments or jurisdictions
1.4.9.2 Safe
Access to some services often also involves documents, approvals and clearances from
authorities outside the department/ jurisdiction providing the service. Today, the focus is on
providing single-window access to such services so that the citizens and businesses save time
and effort across multiple departments or jurisdictions concerned. This is exemplified by the eBiz and e-Trade projects under the NeGP. In order to provide integrated services, DeitY has
notified e-governance standards (available at https://egovstandards.gov.in/ (link is external)).
Further, Open API and Open Source policies are also being finalized by DeitY. The API policy
sets out the Government’s approach on the use of open APIs to promote software interoperability
for all e-governance applications and systems and provide access to data & services for
promoting participation of citizens and other stakeholders. Also, common platforms like
MeghRaj Cloud Platform, Mobile Seva, PayGov and eSangam have been established by DeitY
for the Departments and States for the purposes of interoperable and integrated services.
1.4.9.3 Services available in real time from online & mobile platforms
mygovThe focus today is on designing e-Governance applications in such a way that the related
information, services and grievance-handling mechanism are accessible online on a real time
basis and across all types of access devices such as desktop computers, laptops, tablets, mobiles,
etc.To ensure provisioning of high speed broadband connectivity at panchayat level, the National
Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project is being implemented by the Department of
21

Telecommunications (DoT). This aims to resolve the connectivity issues by taking gigabit fibre
to all the panchayats in the country.The Mobile Seva project of DeitY is a highly successful
project that provides a common national platform to all Government departments and agencies at
the central, state and local levels for providing mobile based services and mobile apps. Over
1900 government departments and agencies across the country are using the mobile platform for
mobile enabled services. This initiative has won the 2014 United Nations Public Service Award.
Mobile Seva is a winner at United Nations Public Service Awards (2014) under the category
“Promoting Whole-of-Government Approaches in the Information Age”. It is the only winner
from India in 2014.Changing the Life of Citizens through Internet & Mobile connectivity
Current scenario:


Difficulty in availing government services due to lack of internet connectivity.

Changed scenario:





Use of mobile phone or laptop would help in checking the status of entitlements, bank
account details, etc.
Access to internet and focus on digital literacy will also help citizens aspire for better jobs
and improved quality of life.
Text books will be available in the form of e-books which can be downloaded on laptops.
Citizens may avail government and private services from home by accessing the software
applications through internet.

1.4.9.4 All citizen entitlements to be portable and available on the cloud
The flexibility, agility, cost effectiveness and transparency offered by the cloud technologies
should be considered while designing and hosting of applications. In order to utilize and harness
the benefits of Cloud Computing, Government of India has embarked upon an ambitious
initiative – “GI Cloud” which has been named as ‘MeghRaj’. The focus of this initiative is to
accelerate delivery of e-services in the country while optimizing ICT spending of the
Government.The cloud platform can host online repositories for all possible entitlements thereby
providing a single source of truth. This includes areas like Public Distribution System, BPL
entitlements, social sector benefits, LPG and other subsidies, etc. The platform can enable
automated registration, maintenance and delivery of citizen entitlements under several
government schemes. This will provide delivery for these entitlements on an anywhere, anytime
basis. A citizen moving to a new place shall not lose his/her entitlements and will not have to go
through a lengthy process to register and supply documents afresh to continue getting the
benefits. The plan is to leverage the cloud platform for addressing the portability issue towards
ensuring continuity of citizen entitlements across the entire country.A major milestone was
achieved in October 2014 with the launch of provident fund portability through the Universal
Account Number (UAN). Employees now need not worry about transferring the funds lying in
their provident fund accounts when they change their locations.
22

1.4.9.5 Digitally transformed services for improving ease of doing business
Starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property,
getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts,
resolving insolvency and other clearances etc. are the various experiences that define how easy
or difficult it is to do business in a country. Government services for businesses shall be digitally
transformed for improving Ease of Doing Business in the country.The existing MMPs under the
NeGP shall be strengthened using latest tools and technologies:The e-Biz project provides
integrated services across various central and state departments/ agencies through a single
window mechanism to all businesses and investors for setting up a commercial enterprises,The eTrade MMP facilitates foreign trade in India by promoting effective and efficient delivery of
services by various regulatory/ facilitating agencies involved in foreign trade, to enable traders to
avail online services from these agencies.
1.4.9.6 Making financial transactions electronic & cashless
Electronic payments and fund transfers have the advantage of targeted and direct delivery to the
intended beneficiaries without the involvement of middlemen who may otherwise subvert the
system. Similarly, online mechanisms for payment of fees for certain public services offer a
transparent, friendly and expeditious channel to citizens for payments. All financial transactions
above a threshold shall be made electronic & cashless.DeitY has created PayGov India as a
centralized payment gateway for all Government Departments and agencies in the country. It is
operated and maintained by NSDL Database Management Ltd (NDML), a wholly owned
subsidiary of National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL).PayGov India is securely
integrated with National and State Service Delivery Gateways (NSDG and SSDG) to enable
sharing of information across databases for efficient service delivery, and also with the Mobile
Services Delivery Gateway (MSDG) under Mobile Seva. The citizens can choose from a host of
e-payment options such as Net banking, credit card, debit card, prepaid/ cash card/ wallet,
Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) and mobile wallet.
1.4.9.7 Leveraging Geospatial Information System (GIS) for decision support systems &
development
Various government services can be offered in a better way by proper use of GIS technology in
the e-governance applications. National Geospatial Information System (NGIS) is being
implemented to integrate geo-spatial data available with a number of organizations such as
Survey of India, National Informatics Centre (NIC), NRSA and Ministry of Earth Sciences
(MoES) to develop a GIS platform for e-Governance applications.This GIS platform will be
leveraged as a service for the benefit of various mission mode projects and other e-governance
initiatives. NGIS can also be leveraged for monitoring the physical progress of projects, disaster
management and specialized needs of public safety agencies.
1.4.10 Vision Area 3: Digital empowerment of citizens
23

1.4.10.1 Empowerment
Digital connectivity is a great leveller. Cutting across demographic and socio-economic
segments, Indians are increasingly connecting and communicating with each other through
mobile phones and computers riding on digital networks. The Digital India programme itself
promises to transform India into a digitally empowered society by focusing on digital literacy,
digital resources, and collaborative digital platforms. This also places emphasis on universal
digital literacy and availability of digital resources/services in Indian languages.
1.4.10.2 Universal Digital Literacy
Digital Empowerment Digital literacy assumes paramount importance at an individual level for
truly and fully leveraging the potential the Digital India programme. It provides the citizens the
ability to fully exploit the digital technologies to empower themselves. It helps them seek better
livelihood opportunities and become economically secure.The focus today is on making at least
one person e-literate in every household. Core ICT infrastructure set up by the central and state
governments, such as CSCs, can play a critical role in taking digital literacy to the remotest
locations of the country. To ensure that all panchayats in the country have high-speed
connectivity, the Department of Telecom (DoT) has established Bharat Broadband Network Ltd.
(BBNL) to roll out the National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN). BBNL will lay out the optic
fiber cable terminating in each of the 2,50,000 gram panchayats in the country, providing 100
Mbps link to be used as information highway by all the stakeholders to ensure that digital
inclusion reaches all villages across the country. This will ensure digitization and connectivity of
the local institutions, such as panchayat office, schools, health centres, libraries, etc. The industry
has also come forward to support the e-literacy goal through the National Digital Literacy
Mission.
National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), an autonomous society
under DeitY, has identified more than 5000 facilitation centres across the country for training on
courses which will equip a person to undertake e-Governance transactions through computers
and other basic activities, like e-mail, browsing the internet, etc. NIELIT has also signed MoUs
with industry partners towards jointly conducting courses and online examinations on digital
literacy.
1.4.10.3 Universally accessible digital resources
Digital resources are truly universally accessible when they are easily available and navigable
everywhere and by everyone. Open resources have the advantage of being widely and
inexpensively available and also being widely usable and customizable. Digital resources created
or implemented along these lines can be accessed everywhere compared to resources developed
from proprietary systems. Owner departments and agencies have the responsibility of ensuring
that their digital resources are of high quality so that access and customization are not
24

problematic.Universally Accessible Digital Resources: Making government documents
accessible to citizens anytime, anywhere!
Current scenario


Government documents are not easily accessible.

Changed scenario






Citizen related documents would be available electronically.
Government departments may access the documents issued by collateral government
agencies.
Documents issued to the citizens would be available to them anywhere anytime, in a standard
format which can be shared with an authorized entity.
The documents may be available in local language as well.
Documents would be accessible to citizens through web portals and mobile applications.

The National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (NDSAP) requires government organizations
to proactively release their datasets in an open format. Implementation of NDSAP in India is
being done by NIC, an agency of DeitY, through the Open Government Platform for India
(http://data.gov.in (link is external)) which provides a single point access to all the open-format
datasets published by different government departments. DeitY is also formulating a policy on
open APIs to make all the data and information provided by government organizations open and
machine readable, which can then be consumed by other e-governance applications/ systems and
the public. DeitY is responsible for setting up the API standards and designing a gateway for
seamless sharing of information amongst the various government agencies.
Digital resources are as useful as the manner in which they are rendered on the users’ devices,
which may be mobile phones, tablets, computers, or other devices. These devices, while all able
to access sites where digital resources are available, may be based on varying support standards
and also may or may not support differentiated styles of content presentation and layout. In such
cases, the content may not be rendered correctly on all devices. Conformance to DeitY-notified
standards for government data and application of the necessary style sheets and other server side
solutions can help owner departments and agencies achieve this aspect of universal accessibility
of their digital resources.Under the Digital India programme, the government is also committed
to providing access to digital resources for citizens with special needs, such as those with visual
or hearing impairments (which may be partial or complete), learning or cognitive disabilities,
physical disabilities which hinder operation of ubiquitous access devices such as phones, tablets
and computers.
1.4.10.4 All documents/certificates to be available on cloud

25

Citizens should not be asked to provide government documents or certificates, which are already
available with some department/institution of the government, in physical form. Portability of all
electronic documents should also be ensured. As an example, educational institutions should
ensure that all their degrees and certificates are digitized and kept in online repositories with
appropriate access protocols. The citizen, while filling some application form, should not be
asked to submit the certified copies of his/her educational certificates but should provide details
of these certificates available in an online repository which can be seen by the agency concerned
using the pointer provided by the citizen. All these repositories of all government issued
documents/certificates should be hosted on a cloud platform to provide a single source of truth
for these documents/certificates. The data may include categories such as digitally signed
educational certificates, land records, driving licenses, permits, etc. Requesting departments or
users may be provided authenticated access to the digital repository available over the cloud.
1.4.10.5 Availability of digital resources/ services in Indian languages
India has a remarkable diversity in terms of languages written and spoken in different parts of the
country. There are 22 official languages and 12 scripts. Knowledge of English is limited to a very
small section of the population in the country. The rest often cannot access or comprehend digital
resources which are available mainly in English.DeitY has initiated the Technology Development
for Indian Languages (TDIL) programme for developing information processing tools and
techniques to facilitate human-machine interaction without language barriers, creating and
accessing multilingual knowledge resources, and integrating them to develop innovative user
products and services. The programme also promotes language technology standardization
through active participation in international and national standardization bodies such as ISO,
UNICODE, World-wide-Web consortium (W3C) and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to ensure
adequate representation of Indian languages in existing and future language technology
standards. DeitY has also initiated the Localization Projects Management Framework (LPMF) to
help localize applications under the MMPs and other government applications. DeitY is also
formulating a new mission mode project named as e-Bhasha to help develop and disseminate
digital content in local languages to India's largely non-English speaking population. The
disabled friendly content and systems are being developed as per accessibility standards.
1.4.10.6 Collaborative digital platforms for participative governance
Traditionally, digital platforms have been used for dissemination of information and provision of
services to the users. Through these platforms, Government could establish communication with
the citizens though it was mostly one-way. Digital platforms, with necessary thrust from
developments on technology front, have come of age and can now facilitate government
departments to have effective two-way communication and interaction with citizens. Platforms
that are more collaborative facilitate greater participation from the users. Instead of reaching out
to citizens every now and then, government can be in touch with them round the clock through
digital platforms which would facilitate participative governance.The platform would provide a
26

mechanism to discuss various issues to arrive at innovative solutions, make suggestions to the
government, provide feedback on governance, rate the government actions/policies/initiatives,
and actively participate with the government to achieve the desired outcomes.DeitY has recently
launched a nationwide digital platform named as “myGov” (www.mygov.in (link is external)) to
facilitate collaborative and participative governance. DeitY also maintains a social media page
highlighting
e-governance
services
being
provided
through
NeGP
at
https://www.facebook.com/NationaleGovernancePlan (link is external) which has over 1 lakh
fans and followers as on date.
1.4.10.7 Footer-up
Share your ideas and Feedback Accessibility Statement Archive Terms & Conditions Website
Policies Disclaimer Help Right To Information Site Map
Updated On: 16-Jun-2015
Total Visitors: 1,045,698
1.4.10.8 My GovData govNational Portaletaal
Content owned & provided by the respective Central Government Departments and the
Programme coordinated by Department Of Electronics & Information Technology, Government
Of India. This portal is designed and developed by DeitY (link is external) / NIC (link is
external).
1.4.10.9 Programme Management Structure for Digital India Programme
The Programme management structure for the Digital India prorgamme as endorsed by the
Union Cabinet is as follow, For effective management of the Digital India programme, the
programme management structure would consists of a Monitoring Committee on Digital India
headed by the Prime Minister, a Digital India Advisory Group chaired by the Minister of
Communications and IT and an Apex Committee chaired by the Cabinet Secretary. The structure
has the needed secretarial/ monitoring/ technical support and appropriate decentralization of
power and responsibility to ensure effective execution of the various projects/ components by the
implementing departments/ teams.
1.4.10.10 Key components of the Programme Management structure would be as follows:
Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) for programme level policy decisions. A
Monitoring Committee on Digital India under the Chairpersonship of Prime Minister which will
be constituted with representation drawn from relevant Ministries/ Departments to provide
leadership, prescribe deliverables and milestones, and monitor periodically the implementation
of the Digital India Programme. A Digital India Advisory Group headed by the Minister of
Communications and IT to solicit views of external stakeholders and to provide inputs to the
27

Monitoring Committee on Digital India, advise the Government on policy issues and strategic
interventions necessary for accelerating the implementation of the Digital India Programme
across Central and State Government Ministries/Departments. The composition of the Advisory
Group would include representation from the Planning Commission and 8 to 9 representatives
from States/UTs and other Line Ministries/Departments on a rotational basis. An Apex
Committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary would be overseeing the programme and providing
policy and strategic directions for its implementation and resolving inter-ministerial issues. In
addition it would harmonize and integrate diverse initiatives and aspects related to integration of
services, end to end process re-engineering and service levels of MMPs and other initiatives
under the Digital India Programme, wherever required.Expenditure Finance Committee
(EFC)/Committee on Non Plan Expenditure (CNE) to financially appraise/ approve projects as
per existing delegation of financial powers. The EFC/ CNE headed by Secretary Expenditure
would also be recommending to the CCEA the manner in which MMPs/ eGovernance initiatives
are to be implemented, as well as the financial terms of participation for States. A representative
of the Planning Commission would also be included in both the EFC and CNE.A Council of
Mission Leaders on Digital India headed by Secretary, DeitY would be established as a platform
to share the best practices in various existing and new eGov initiatives under Digital India and
also to sensitize various government departments about ICT projects of DeitY. While the interdepartmental, integration and interoperable issues of integrated projects / eGovernance initiatives
would be resolved by the Apex Committee on Digital India headed by Cabinet Secretary, the
technical issues of integrated projects would be resolved by the Council of Mission Leaders.
Further, considering the scope of the Digital India Programme and the need to look at issues such
as overall technology architecture, framework, standards, security policy, funding strategy,
service delivery mechanism, sharing of common infrastructure etc. at a programme level, it is
proposed that the technical appraisal of all Digital India projects be done by DeitY, prior to a
project being placed before the EFC/ CNE. It may be mentioned that the DeitY has already set
up a Programme Management Unit, namely National eGovernance Division (NeGD) to provide
support to departments in conceptualizing, developing, appraising, implementing and monitoring
respective MMPs / eGovernance Initiatives.For effective monitoring of Digital India, usage of
Project Management Information System would be mandatory in each new and existing Mission
Mode Projects to capture the real or near real time details about the progress of the project. This
tool should be proficient enough to capture the parameters for each stage of project namely,
conceptualization and development, implementation and post implementation. The parameters
could be decided in consultation with various line Ministries / Departments and DeitY. Since the
“e-Kranti: National eGovernance Plan 2.0” is already integrated with Digital India Programme,
the existing programme management structure established for National eGovernance Plan at both
national and state level has also been decided to be integrated appropriately with the programme
management structure being envisaged for Digital India Programme at national and State/UT
level.

28

1.4.11 Current Status
The Apex Committee on the Digital India programme headed by the Cabinet Secretary and the
Digital India Advisory Group chaired by the Minister of Communications and Information
Techology has been constituted. The first meeting of the Apex Committee on the Digital India
programme was held on 26.11.2014. The second meeting of the Apex Committee on the Digital
India programme was held on 09.02.2015. The actions on decisons made by the Apex Committee
are being worked out.

Chapter 2 Research and Methodology

Research and Methodology
The Research methodology used in the study was descriptive research design. It includes surveys
and fact-finding requires of different kinds. Selected questions are asked from the youths to
evaluate a particular result of the study and find out the conclusions from it. The major purpose
of description research designs, as it exists at present. The main characteristic of this method is
that the researcher has no control of variables; we can report only what has happened or what is
happening. The primary purposes of basic research (as opposed to applied research) are
29

documentation, discovery, interpretation, or the research and development (R&D) of methods
and systems for the advancement of human knowledge.
2.1 Research Objective







To find out how many of the youths show interest in the latest project which is started by our
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
To find out how many of the youths are aware of the digital Marketing
To find if the youths use the latest technologies and if they use social sites
To find out how many of them think that the digital India project is going to be a success in
the near future
To find if the youths think if will lead to a greater growth of India in future
To find if the people think that the digital India project will eradicate poverty which is still a
major problem in India

2.2 Research design
A research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in a manner
that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in procedure.


A well-structured questionnaire is framed.



Data is collected from the youths



Findings are made and necessary recommendations are given.

2.3 Research Tool
A structured questionnaire has been prepared to get the relevant information from the
respondents. The questionnaire consists of a variety of questions presented to the youths for their
despondence. Survey is made to different level of youths of Different ages
2.4 Sources of Data
It is of two types:
1. Primary Data
2. Secondary Data
2.4.1 Primary data
Primary data) is a term for data collected from a source. Raw data has not been subjected to
processing or any other manipulation, and are also referred to as primary data. Raw data is a
relative term (see data). Raw data can be input to a computer program or used in manual
procedures such as analyzing statistics from a survey. The term can refer to the binary data on
electronic storage devices such as hard disk drives (also referred to as low-level data).Raw data
(sometimes called "source" data or "eggy" data) are the data input to processing. A distinction is
30

sometimes made between data and information to the effect that information is the end product
of data processing. Raw data that has undergone processing are sometimes referred to as
"cooked" data. The primary data is defined as the data, which is collected for the first time and
fresh in nature, and happen to be original in character through field survey. Primary data
collection, you collect the data yourself using methods such as interviews and questionnaires.
The key point here is that the data you collect is unique to you and your research and, until you
publish, no one else has access to it.
2.4.1.1 There are many methods of collecting primary data and the main methods include:
1. Questionnaires
2. Observation
3. Case-studies
4. Diaries
5. Critical incidents
2.5 Secondary data
The secondary data are those which have already been collected by someone else and have been
passed through statistical process. The secondary data for this study are already available in the
firm's internal records, annual report, broaches, and company's website. Secondary data, is data
collected by someone other than the user. Common sources of secondary data for social science
include censuses, organizational records and data collected through qualitative methodologies or
qualitative research. Primary data, by contrast, are collected by the investigator conducting the
research.Secondary data analysis saves time that would otherwise be spent collecting data and,
particularly in the case of quantitative data, provides larger and higher-quality databases that
would be unfeasible for any individual researcher to collect on their own. In addition, analysts of
social and economic change consider secondary data essential, since it is impossible to conduct a
new survey that can adequately capture past change and/or developments.
2.6 Data collection method
There are selected questions which are asked from the people or mainly youths to complete or
valuate our study .The data collection method used in this research is survey method. Here the
data are systematically recorded from the respondents or from the following youths.

31

Chapter 3 Data Presentation and Analysis

Data Presentation and Analysis
3.1 The following pie chart shows how many number percentage of youths are employed?

32

Figure 8
Interpretation
The above data represents about 70% of the youths are not employed and 30% are employed

3.2 The following pie chart shows how many percentage of youths use their Smartphone for
which purpose?

33

Figure 9

Interpretation
The above data represents about 70% use youths use their Smartphone for internet, 20% for
games and 10% for calling

3.3 The following pie chart shows which social networking sites youths mainly use?

34

Figure 10

Interpretation
The above data represents about 50% of youths use facebook, 30% use instagram and 10% for
yahoo and 10% use all of the social sites

3.4 The following pie chart shows how many percentage of youths use online sites for buying
online products?

35

Figure 11

Interpretation
The above data represents about 50% of youths use Amazon, 20% use flipcart and 20% for use
shopclues and 10% use snapdeal

3.5 The following pie chart shows how many percentage of youths agree that digital marketing
helped them to gather information?

36

Figure 12

Interpretation
The above data represents about 50% of youths agree, 20% highly agree, 20% are not sure and
10% disagree

3.6 The following pie chart shows how many percentage youths agree that digital India is going
to change the way of living of people in India?

37

Figure 13
Interpretation
The above data represents about 60% of youths agree, 10% disagree, 20% are not sure and 10%
highly agree

3.7 The following pie chart shows how many percentage of youths support digital India project?

38

Figure 14
Interpretation
The above data represents about 50% of youths disagree, 10% highly agree, 10% are not sure
and 30% agree

3.8 The following pie chart shows how many percentage of youths agree that the digital India
project by Narendra modi will be successful in near future?
39

Figure 15
Interpretation
The above data represents about 70% of youths agree, 10% highly agree, 10% disagree and 20%
are not sure

3.9 The following pie chart shows the percentage of youths who agree that the digital India
project will eradicate poverty in India?
40

Figure 16

Interpretation
The above data represents about 40% of youths agree, 30% disagree, 10% highly disagree and
10% are not sure and 10% highly agree with it

Chapter 4
41

Summary and Conclusion
4.1 Summary
Digital marketing is an umbrella term for the targeted, measurable, and interactive marketing of
products or services using digital technologies to reach and convert leads into customers.The key
objective are to promote brands, build preference and increase sales through various digital
marketing techniques. It is embodied by an extensive selection of service, product and brand
marketing tactics, which mainly use the Internet as a core promotional medium, in addition to
mobile and traditional TV and radio.
Digital marketing activities are search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing
(SEM) , content marketing, influencer marketing, content automation, campaign marketing, and
e-commerce marketing, social media marketing, social media optimisation, e-mail direct
marketing, display advertising, e–books, optical disks and games, and any other form of digital
media. It also extends to non-Internet channels that provide digital media, such as mobile phones
(SMS and MMS), callback and on-hold mobile ring tones ,According to the Digital Marketing
Institute, Digital Marketing is the use of digital channels to promote or market products and
services to consumers and businesses.
The term 'digital marketing' was first used in the 1990s.In the 2000s and the 2010s, digital
marketing became more sophisticated as an effective way to create a relationship with the
consumer that has depth and relevance. While the term 'digital marketing' may not have been
used until the 1990s, digital marketing itself has roots to the mid-1980s when the SoftAd Group,
now ChannelNet, developed advertising campaigns for several major automobile companies,
wherein people would send in reader reply cards found in magazines and receive in return floppy
disks that contained multimedia content promoting various cars and offering free test drives.The
rapid evolution of digital media has created new opportunities and avenues for advertising and
marketing. Fueled by the proliferation of devices to access digital media, this has led to the
exponential growth of digital advertising.
In 2012 and 2013 statistics showed digital marketing remained a growing field. Digital media
growth is estimated at 4.5 trillion online ads served annually with digital media spend at 48%
growth in 2010. An increasing portion of advertising stems from businesses employing Online
Behavioural Advertising (OBA) to tailor advertising for Internet users. Though an innovative
resource, OBA raises concern with regards to consumer privacy and data protection. Such
implications are important considerations for responsible communications. Digital marketing is
often referred to as 'online marketing', 'internet marketing' or 'web marketing'. The term 'digital
marketing' has grown in popularity over time, particularly in certain countries. In the USA
'online marketing' is still prevalent, in Italy is referred as 'web marketing' but in the UK and
worldwide, 'digital marketing' has become the most common term, especially after the year 2013.
4.2 Findings
42

The following research shows that the number of people who were asked are mostly unemployed
the above pie chart showed about 70% of them are not working .a question was asked about the
use of the Smartphone this does not need a pie chart as all people were using a Smartphone. The
research has showed that about 70% of the users use their Smartphone for using internet about
10% of the users use their phone for the calling purpose and 20% use their phone for playing
games. As we kno tat mostly people use their Smartphone for using internet as they had to
connect with the people around the world or for checking their mails. A question was asked
where the users were asked about the networking site they mostly prefer to use the pie chart
showed that 50% prefer to use face book as the people are so much addicted to face book as it
enables to get connected to the users worldwide, it enables the users to chat , check news feed
etc. 30% of users prefer to use Instagram as this new social app is trending worldwide because
of its small size and user friendly interface. Some users get connected with with yahoo and about
10% of people all of the above social sites. There was a question asked where people had to tell
if they buy online products from online stores like snapdeal, shopclues , amazon etc. about 50%
of the users used amazon for buying online products which means that the majority of the people
prefer to use amazon it is also said to be the biggest online store of the world. Some of the users
prefer buying product from snapdeal, shopclues and flipcart, these sites are also good as they
satisfactory products to their customers and less or no shipping cost and all these online stores
delivers their products in quick time and also provide free home delivery service. Another
question was asked which was if their Smartphone has reduced their burden or not? Most or all
the people agree that that their Smartphone has reduced their burden; it does not need a pie chart
to display as all of them agreed with the question.The digital India project which is now very
much popular project started by our Prime Minister Narendra modi, there was a question in
which people were asked about if they know the digital india project, all the people had the same
answer as they all of them know about the latest Digital India project.
Another question was here regarding the digital marketing as the people said that the digital
marketing has helped them to gather information 50% people agreed that digital marketing has
helped them to gather their needed information.A pie chart which is also there above in which
people were asked if they agree that Advertising on social sites like YouTube, face book and
yahoo are content worthy ? 50% of the people or the majority of the people agreed from the
statement about 20 % highly agreed and 20 % were not sure about their answer. There was a
question if the digital India project going to change the way of living of people about 60% of the
people agreed from the statement while 10% disagree and 20% were not sure about it. The study
showed that about 50% of the people did not support the digital india project and 30% of them
did not support it. About 10% highly disagree and 10% were not sure about it. a pie chart above
is there in which people were asked if this digital india project of Narendra modi going to be a
success in near future or not ? about 70% of the people agreed and 10% said they disagree about
the success and about 20% were not sure about it. The last pie chart shown above showed that
how many of the people think that the digital india project going to eradicate or reduce the
poverty in india. The answers were pretty much clear as 40% of the people think that this project
43

will reduce povery 30% disagreed from it as they did not think that it will erase the poverty ,
10% people were not sure about it , 10% of them highly agreed from the statement and
remaining 10% of them highly disagree from this statement.
4.3 Limitations
It is said, “Nothing is perfect” and if the quite is true, I am sure that there would be few
shortcoming in this project also. Sincere efforts have been made to eliminate discrepancies as far
as possible but few would have reminded due to limitations of the study. There are:
The convenient sampling technique has its own limitations.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Many times responses in questionnaire were incomplete and biased; it may
Not represent accuracy in study.
Some of the respondents of the survey were unwilling to share personal
Information.
The employees were reluctant to give correct information.
Even though the employees gave correct information during the unstructured interview
conducted, they gave positive answer while answering the questionnaire.
As the study was done within a limited time, investigator could not select a sufficiently large
sample for the study.

4.4 Suggestions:
1. Increasing the knowledge of the youths about the digital marketing
2. Various school and institutes should be opened for the study of the concept of digital
marketing and about the digital India project
3. A good investment should be done in this sector of increasing skills and knowledge aof
youths about digital India and marketing
4. Various courses should be stated at low rates so that the lower and middle class people can
exercise it

Reference and Bibliography

44

Reference and Bibliography
5 Websites
5.1 http://www.digitalindia.gov.in/
5.2 http://digitalindia.net.in/
5.3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_marketing
5.4 http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/digital-marketing.html
5.5 http://www.sas.com/en_us/insights/marketing/digital-marketing.html

Appendix
Questionnaire
45

1

Name of the person?

2

Employed?
Yes

3

Do u use a Smartphone?
Yes

4

Yahoo

All of Them

snapdeal

flipcart

No

Amazon

Has your Smartphone has reduced you burden?
Yes

9

Instagram

Which sites you mostly prefer?
Shopclues

8

Games

Do you buy any online products?
Yes

7

Internet

Which social network networking sites you mainly use?
Facebook

6

No

Why do you use your Smartphone?
Calling

5

No

No

Do u know anything about Digital Marketing and Digital India?
Agree

Disagree

Not sure

Highly agree

Highly Disagree
10 Do you agree that Digital Marketing helped you to gather information?
46

Agree

Disagree

Not Sure

Highly Agree

Highly disagree

11 Do you agree that Advertising on social sites like YouTube, face book and yahoo are content
worthy?
Agree

Disagree

Not Sure

Highly Agree

Highly disagree

12 Do you agree that Digital India going to change the way of living of people in India?
Agree

Disagree

Not Sure

Highly Agree

Highly disagree

13 Do you agree that majority of people of India support the Digital India project?
Agree

Disagree

Not Sure

Highly Agree

Highly disagree

14 About 20% of Indian people living in India are living under poverty Do you agree that D
igital India will reduce their poverty?

47

Agree

Disagree

Not Sure

Highly Agree

Highly disagree

15 Do you agree that that the project of Digital India by Narendra Modi be successful in near
future?
Agree

Disagree

Not Sure

Highly disagree

48

Highly Agree