India’s chief government auditor, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), stated on Thursday that the government’s BharatNet project failed to achieve its primary objective. The project aimed to provide high-speed internet to every village in the country, bridging the gap between villages and cities. However, according to the CAG, the project failed to achieve this ambitious goal. The main reason for this was shortcomings in planning and implementation.
In an official statement on the BharatNet Phase II performance audit presented in Parliament on August 12, the CAG stated that the network infrastructure work was largely complete, covering 96.70% of the targeted Gram Panchayats (GPs). However, it failed to operate efficiently, utilize, and generate revenue.
The CAG stated that the audit revealed that while BharatNet achieved significant success in terms of infrastructure, it fell short of achieving its larger objective of bridging the digital divide. The BharatNet project was conceived in October 2011 and implemented through a special purpose vehicle, Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL), formed in 2012. The auditor stated that they found deficiencies in the project’s planning and implementation. Although the second phase was planned for 20 states (21 circles) through three phases, it was implemented in only 13 states (14 circles).
It further stated that by November 2025, only 33.20% of service-ready Gram Panchayats (GPs) were operational. The CAG stated that the most common cause of internet outages was fiber cable failure or outages, accounting for approximately 48% of all outages. Furthermore, it took a long time, on average, of 17 days to repair a broken cable, which clearly shows that there was a lot of laxity and delay in repair and maintenance work.