India, July 6 -- India must move beyond measuring digital progress by the number of people connected and focus instead on whether its infrastructure improves productivity, contributes to economic growth and supports trusted, intelligent and resilient systems, said Prof Abhay Karandikar, Member, NITI Aayog.

Delivering the keynote address at the CyberMedia Leadership & Awards in New Delhi on 3 July 2026, Karandikar said the parameters defining digital progress are changing after India's rapid expansion of telecom connectivity and digital public infrastructure.

"For many years, we have measured digital progress by how many people we could connect," he said, pointing to the country's rapid telecom growth. "But today, the true measure of dig...