India’s digital governance efforts could benefit from greater data sharing across government departments and states, according to a report by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI).

The report, From Digital Scale to Data Power: A Data Operating Model for India’s States, examines how government data on health, education, land records, taxation and welfare schemes can be used across departments to support policymaking and public service delivery.

India has enrolled more than 1.4 billion people in Aadhaar, while the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) processes over 20 billion transactions a month. The report identifies data quality and coordination across government systems as areas for development.

Citing a 2025 NITI Aayog assessment, the report estimates that data accounts for fiscal leakage of 4-7% of India’s annual welfare spending.

It also cites savings from government data-cleaning exercises, including ₹90 billion following the removal of 17.1 million ineligible PM-KISAN beneficiaries and ₹210 billion over two years after eliminating 35 million bogus LPG connections. The removal of 16 million fake ration cards is estimated to save around ₹100 billion annually.

The report highlights the role of reliable data in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in government services.

“AI is only as effective as the data it relies on,” said economist Uday Narang, adding that connecting government data could support efficient public spending, better governance and inclusive economic growth.

5 billion e-KYC transactions, while DigiLocker has issued and verified nearly 10 billion documents for more than 685 million citizens, according to the report.

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