DigiLocker Experiences Massive Expansion; 68 Electricity Distribution utilities now live for consumers nationwide

📌 Summary:

• DigiLocker, India's flagship digital document wallet under the Digital India programme, has onboarded 68 Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOMs) and Power Departments
• Integration spans 35 States and Union Territories, letting consumers securely access digital electricity bills directly within the DigiLocker app
• Participating entities include state DISCOMs, municipal electricity departments and private distribution utilities, serving millions of consumers
• Benefits: retrieve latest issuer-sourced bills digitally on demand; no need to search emails, keep physical copies or visit offices
• Strengthens India's digital utility ecosystem and trusted-issuer model for streamlined digital service delivery

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS2 — e-governance, Digital Public Infrastructure, citizen-centric service delivery; ease of living

📝 Prelims Facts:

• DigiLocker is a flagship initiative under the Digital India programme, implemented by the Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY)
• It provides access to authentic, issuer-sourced digital documents with legal validity equivalent to physical originals (under IT Act rules)
• 68 DISCOMs/power departments across 35 States/UTs now integrated

🔑 Key Term: DigiLocker — a cloud-based platform for issuance and verification of documents and certificates digitally, eliminating the use of physical documents.