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.
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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.

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-to-purchase 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.

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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

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 so-called “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
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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 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.

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 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 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

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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

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to create 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

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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 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

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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.

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.

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 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 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.

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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 user-generated 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

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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 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.

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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.

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-

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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

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
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Some of the facilities which will be provided through this initiative are Digital Locker, e-
eduction, 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 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.

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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.

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 e-Governance 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

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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

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

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

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
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

20
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.

Figure 7

21
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.
 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
22
Government-issued 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

23
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.

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 e-
governance 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
e-Biz 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.

24
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 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.
25
 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.

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 e-Trade MMP facilitates foreign trade in India by
26
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

1.4.10.1 Empowerment

27
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
28
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 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
29
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

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

30
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 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

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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 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

32
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 inter-departmental, 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

33
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.

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.

34
 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

The purpose of this chapter is to critically review literature related to the

theoretical concept of the topic of social media, traditional marketing channels
and brand awareness. The literature review is to develop a theoretical framework
for the study. The main papers for the study are the work of Palmer and Lewis
(2009) titled an experiential, social network-based approach to direct marketing
and Ralf Beuker and Erik Roscam Abbing (2010) paper titled Two Faces of Social
Media: Brand Communication and Brand Research.

Social media

Social media has gained a lot of popularity over the past few years and as a result
of this popularity, other traditional Media have experienced decline in both
business and popularity. Palmer and Lewis (2009) argued that the main stream
media channels have faced many challenges in recent times that have led to
closure with TV facing down turn in their profits levels. Palmer and Lewis are
correlating the performance of these traditional channels to the rise of social
media in marketing and brand management. As a result of completion and tough
economic environment, companies have tightened their budgets especially
advertising budgets which have shifted to online channels. According to Forrester
research study (2011) by Ernst.J, David M. and Cooperstein, Dernoga M, found
that companies (brands) are gradually shifting their advertising priorities to align
better with today's buyers. Today‟s buyers are tech savvy and social media
maniacs.

Therefore it is the proliferation of the social media network services in brand

management and marketing that bring us to the attention of social media
networks. First, the researcher will define social media and then outline those
networks that are driving the debate.

35
In the last couple of years, different kind of social media networking services have
emerged and currently there are innumerable social media channels that connect
people to each other. The most popular social network sites that are widely used
are; Face book, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Flickr. In fact, Facebook, twitter
and YouTube are the most common channels companies use in their online
marketing for creating brand awareness or just engaging with the customers.

Though LinkedIn is also widely used by companies, it mainly targets to establish

relationship on a professional perspective and slowly becoming B2B channel
compared to other three networking sites mentioned above. However for the
purpose of this study, only five most popular social networking services are
reviewed.

Facebook

Facebook was launched in 2004 and have over 800 million active users (active in
September 2011), of which 350 million users access Facebook through mobile
devices. An average Facebook user is estimated to have at least 130 friends and is
connected to 80 community pages, groups and events. There are more than 70
languages available on the site. Its main use is to establish and maintain
relationships in work related situations, in political affiliations or just among
friends and families (http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics).
Facebook has become the most powerful tool for marketing today. In April 2011,
the company launched a new service for marketers and interested creative
agencies which is a form of online platform (Portal) that allows marketers and
creative design agencies to build brand promotions on Facebook. Facebook is now
a direct competitor of Google in online advertising and this new service has made
it possible for companies such as Financial Times and ABC News to create
dynamic commercial graphics or advertisement.

36
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook, 2012)

witter

Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that same year in
July. Unlike Facebook where one can have friends to share different things, with
twitter one has to get connected to the latest information on what they find
interesting. One has to find the public stream that interests them and follow in the
conversations. Each tweet is 140 characters in length. One can still follow the
tweets regardless of whether they do not tweet at all, and also there is no limit as
to how many tweets one can send within a given day. (http://twitter.com/about,
2011)

Through Twitter businesses now share their information or news faster to a large
audience online following the company, and from a strategic stand point, this has
helped companies that uses Twitter to position their brands and also gather
business insight through feedback to boost their market intelligence in order to
accurately target customers with relevant services and products or enhance
business relationships. Twitter has helped lift brands, enhance customer
relationship marketing and also improved direct sales by reaching out directly to
the engaged audience on the platform (http://twitter.com/about, 2012).

YouTube

YouTube was created in February 2005 as a video sharing website on which users
can upload, view and share videos as an informative and inspirational to others
across the globe. The company uses Adobe Flash Video and HTML5 technology
to display a wide variety of user-generated video content. YouTube acts as a
platform for distributing contents by creators and advertisers as well. Over 3
billion videos are viewed every day and there are more than 400 million views per
day on mobile devices (2011). It is estimated that more than 800 million people
visit YouTube every month to watch and share contents. (youtube.com, 2011)
37
Just as the adage goes a picture is worth a thousand words, pictures have an
impact in creating an image in the mind of a person. This has given YouTube a
competitive advantage in online marketing; all in all more businesses are now
using YouTube for their marketing advertising campaigns. Various companies

with outstanding video campaigns have had their breakthroughs in this form of
brand marketing, especially when the videos have gone viral. Most of these viral
successes can be attributed to expertise and creativity of the brand marketer to
entertain the audience hence making the public share the videos with others.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn started in 2002, but was officially launched on May 5, 2003. Many
professionals have joined LinkedIn in recent years to share knowledge and insight
in more than one million LinkedIn groups. The company operates the world‟s
largest professional network on the internet with more than 135 million members
in over 200 countries and territories. It is estimated that more than 2 million
companies have LinkedIn Company Pages (as of November, 2011). There are 14
languages currently available: French, Germany, Italian, Japanese, Korean,
Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, English and Turkish.
(linkedin.com, 2011)

In LinkedIn, companies have access to a wealth of information that are mostly

user provided through their profile data i.e. company name, job title, size of the
company and LinkedIn uses this information for advertising targeted to towards
members. Companies pay some fees to advertise their products and services to
particular LinkedIn members or affiliation groups on LinkedIn. The classic
example is the success of Cathay Pacific Airway through their LinkedIn company
page sends messages to the people who are following their company on LinkedIn
asking them to recommend the company. Through this, the company has been
38
 able to increase its brand awareness among target market segment
(marketing.linkedin.com, 2012).

Flickr

This is a photo sharing and video hosting website that was created by Ludicorp in
2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. It is available in ten languages and has a
total of 51 million registered members and 80 million unique visitors (June 2011).
Unlike the above mentioned networking sites that offer only one type of account,

Flickr offers two types of accounts, Free and Pro. Free and pro account differ in
the number of photo upload allowance: With Free account, one is allowed to
upload 300 MB of images and two videos per month, where as Pro account users
can upload an unlimited number of images and videos every month and receive
unlimited bandwidth and storage. This networking system is compounded by
different groups. Any member of Flickr is permitted to start a group which he can
monitor and set restrictions for. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flickr).

It is against terms of service for businesses to use Flickr for the purpose of
advertising, yet still businesses can get indirect marketing exposure via Flickr. A
company can use its website address as their flickr screen name, the screen name
will then be attached to every photo upload and every message (this is an
opportunity to mention business name and website address) posted to the group
discussion. It is also possible to upload quality photos related the business and
writing appropriate text describing each photo but avoiding hard sell that is
prohibited (http://www.smallbusinesssem.com/articles/marketing-on-flickr/2012).

The role of social media Networks

39
Social media network are applications that allow users to build personal web sites
accessible to other users for exchange of personal content and communication
(Palmer and Lewis 2009). Social media according to Palmer and Lewis can be
characterized as: online applications, platforms and media which aim to facilitate
interactions, collaborations and the sharing of content.

Fauser et al. (2011) argue that though communication is the core dimension of
social media networks, not all platform categories are equally suitable for all
marketing objectives because most of the platforms are not equally well suited for
information, collaboration, and even for cultivating relationships (Fauser et al.
2011). The purpose of social networks is primarily for communication and
exchange of ideas of interest among peer groups or communities. According to
Gummesson (2002) however, it is through frequent communication initiated by
the marketer on the interactive social networks that a long term friendship can be

developed and maintained between the business and the customer (Gummesson
2002: 10). Janal (1998) on the other hand, insinuates that the information provider
(marketer) are the ones creating their own communities with their social network
constructs, hence staffers and vocal members of these constructs lead discussion.
Furthermore the vocal members become the opinion leaders (Janal 1998: 214-
215). In this way a collaboration between the marketer and the online
consumer/or prospect is developed. This means that without information flow
within the communities and the brand which in this case is the business, they
would be no serious engagement amongst the online communities. The figure
below for example gives a picture of the kind of interaction that takes place
within the confines of the Social sphere.

However, the dilemma facing companies planning to interact with social networks
is how to control communication environment within the network, in an effort to
make sure that their brand image is protected. Palmer and Lewis (2009) therefore
conclude that a true social network should give members a feeling, a sense of
ownership of the community and if that is not perceived there is potential for
network members to be resentful. Therefore for companies to be successful in
using social technologies, the first step would be to prepare and align internal
roles, processes, policies with the business objectives.
40
 Marketing through Social Media

In broader terms the topic of the study is social media as a tool of marketing and
creating brand awareness, but it is first important to define the terminology
“marketing” referred to in the title. Therefore according to the American
Marketing Association, Marketing is an organizational function and a set of
processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for
managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its
stakeholders.

(Marketingpower.com 2012).

In the definition above, the key words are “organizational function, and processes
for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value
for customers”. From an organization perspective, the aspects of these processes
referred in the definition above are brand awareness, advertising, public relations
etc. Therefore for the sake of this study, we focus only on one branch of
marketing which is brand awareness or brand management as a process of
communicating or delivering value to customers as already shown in the
definition of marketing by the American Marketing Association.

Chaffey et al. (2003) thus describe internet marketing as the application of the
Internet and related digital technologies to achieve marketing objectives (Chaffey
et al. 2003, 1). These marketing objectives can be realized by use of social media

41
networks which is a subset of internet application. Social media networking platforms
serve as a tool for marketers (Qualman 2010: 28). This implies that Facebook, twitter
etc. are means of accomplishing marketing strategies through the internet. It is
therefore imperative for marketers to find suitable platforms to suite their marketing
objectives. A good marketing objective enables marketers to acquire new customers,
while retaining the already existing ones through customer satisfaction.

Chaffey et al. (2004) further outline 3 points on how the internet can be used to
achieve the „processes‟

 Identifying how the internet can be used for marketing research to find out
customers‟ needs and wants
 Anticipating the online revenue contribution

 Customer satisfaction through electronic channel; satisfaction here refers to the

site easy usability, adequate performance, and identifying what the standard
associated customer service is.

(Chaffey et al. 2004, 318)

Online marketing has a plethora of strengths; the speed of accessing the information is
very first and extremely cost effective, besides that internet has no geographical
boundaries. In addition to cost effectiveness, the marketer likewise has the
opportunity to research new suppliers at a fraction of previous search costs. In other
words all the marketing research conducted through internet is very cost effective
(Gay et al. 2007, 129). On the other hand Gay et al. (2007) are quick to point out
some major weakness that online marketing face. The first problem is that cultural
and language differences may present difficulties in information gathering across
national boundaries. Secondly, it can be difficult to guarantee that the person
responding is the person the marketer thinks they are (Gay et al. 2007, 129).

42
 Social Media Sales Funnel adoption

Social media networks relationships between the brand (marketer) and the online
networking community can be developed so as to bring value to the business. There is
great need for company to know when and where to network efficiently in order to
attract quality prospects and maintain relationship with the right customer. To achieve
this from a business perspective, streaming can be done by focusing on the right
groups online with the right social networking services. The process of doing this can
be equated to sales funnel.

The funnel is used as a metaphor, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom to monitor
the sales process. At the top of the funnel are the many people that a company
perceives might need products/services and hence draws them to their social
networking constructs. Further down at the bottom are sales a company makes by
delivering the products/services to those who find them to be of value. The figure 2
below demonstrates the sales funnel; how people within the “Internet jungle” are
streamlined from different forms of social networking sites of their preferences into
the marketer‟s domain.

Many marketers today are advertising using different types of social networking sites
that are authentic to their present and prospective clients. Kotler et al. (2006) insinuate
that marketing function vary significantly from company to company. In their view
they see small businesses as not establishing formal marketing groups at all; however
such companies get their marketing ideas from managers, the sales force or an
advertising agency (Kotler et al. 2006).

43
 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
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.

44
 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
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

45
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.

46
 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?

Figure 8

Interpretation

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

47
3.2 The following pie chart shows how many percentage of youths use their Smartphone for
which purpose?

Figure 9

Interpretation

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

48
3.3 The following pie chart shows which social networking sites youths mainly use?

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

49
3.4 The following pie chart shows how many percentage of youths use online sites for buying
online products?

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

50
3.5 The following pie chart shows how many percentage of youths agree that digital marketing
helped them to gather information?

Figure 12

Interpretation

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

51
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?

Figure 13

Interpretation

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

52
3.7 The following pie chart shows how many percentage of youths support digital India project?

Figure 14

Interpretation

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

53
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?

Figure 15

Interpretation

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

54
3.9 The following pie chart shows the percentage of youths who agree that the digital India
project will eradicate poverty in India?

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

55
 Chapter 4

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

56
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

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

57
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
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:

58
The convenient sampling technique has its own limitations.

1 Many times responses in questionnaire were incomplete and biased; it may

2 Not represent accuracy in study.
3 Some of the respondents of the survey were unwilling to share personal
4 Information.
5 The employees were reluctant to give correct information.
6 Even though the employees gave correct information during the unstructured interview
conducted, they gave positive answer while answering the questionnaire.
7 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

59
 Reference and Bibliography

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

60
 Appendix

Questionnaire

1. Name of the person?

2. Employed?

Yes No

3. Do u use a Smartphone?

Yes No

4. Why do you use your Smartphone?

Calling Internet Games

5. Which social network networking sites you mainly use?

Facebook Instagram Yahoo All of Them

6. Do you buy any online products?

Yes No

7. Which sites you mostly prefer?

Shopclues Amazon snapdeal flipcart

8. Has your Smartphone has reduced you burden?

Yes No

9. Do u know anything about Digital Marketing and Digital India?

61
 Agree Disagree Not sure Highly agree
Highly Disagree

10. Do you agree that Digital Marketing helped you to gather information?

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?

62
 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 Agree

Highly disagree

63