When Narendra Modi became Prime Minister in May 2014, his government promised a decisive break from the past, with an emphasis on economic growth, governance, development and a stronger role for India on the global stage.
Over the following 12 years, his governments have introduced some of the country's most far-reaching policy and legislative changes in decades, from demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax to the abrogation of Article 370, the Citizenship Amendment Act, farm reforms, sweeping welfare schemes and a new criminal-law framework. Some of these interventions have fundamentally altered the way Indians interact with the state and the economy. Others have triggered mass protests, intense political opposition or judicial intervention. A few have subsequently been rolled back or substantially modified.
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi turns 76, here is a look at some of the marquee policies and legislative interventions of his tenure: what they sought to achieve, how they were received, and what followed.
1. Jan Dhan Yojana: Bringing millions into formal banking
One of the Modi government's earliest flagship initiatives was the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, launched in August 2014. The programme sought to bring people without bank accounts into the formal financial system through basic accounts, RuPay cards, insurance and access to government transfers.
Its significance extended beyond the bank accounts themselves. Jan Dhan became one of the foundations of the government's wider JAM architecture, Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and mobile connectivity, enabling direct transfers of welfare benefits into beneficiaries' accounts. The government has presented the programme as a major financial-inclusion success.
However, questions have persisted over inactive accounts, access to credit and whether account holders are able to use the formal banking system beyond receiving government transfers. The programme nevertheless established an important piece of infrastructure for the Modi government's welfare-delivery model.
2. Swachh Bharat: Toilets on a massive scale, but the sanitation debate continued
Launched on 2 October 2014, the Swachh Bharat Mission became one of the most visible campaigns of Modi's first term. The government set out to eliminate open defecation and expand sanitation infrastructure across India. Official figures say rural sanitation coverage rose from 39 per cent in 2014 to 100 per cent by 2019, with more than 12 crore household toilets subsequently constructed.
The programme brought sanitation into the centre of public policy and generated substantial spending on toilet construction. But the debate did not end with toilet construction. Researchers and activists have repeatedly pointed to the distinction between access to a toilet and its sustained use, as well as questions surrounding water availability, waste management and the accuracy of declarations that villages had achieved open-defecation-free status.
3. Ujjwala: LPG connections, but affordability became the next question
The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, launched in 2016, was designed to move poorer households away from traditional cooking fuels such as firewood and biomass. The government says more than 10.57 crore LPG connections had been provided to women from poor households by May 2026. Overall LPG connections increased dramatically over the same period. The policy's immediate achievement was therefore access.
But access to a connection is not the same as regular LPG consumption. The price of refills became an important issue, particularly for poorer households, with critics arguing that families could receive a subsidised connection but subsequently struggle to afford repeated refills.
4. Ayushman Bharat: A vast healthcare safety net
The Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, launched in 2018, was conceived as a major expansion of publicly funded health insurance. It provides annual health cover of up to ₹5 lakh per eligible family. According to government figures, more than 43.93 crore Ayushman cards had been issued by May 2026, with hospitalisations under the scheme rising substantially since its launch. The programme has expanded access to hospital treatment for millions of economically vulnerable Indians.
THE ECONOMIC REFORMS
5. Demonetisation: The shock that changed the Modi government's economic narrative
On 8 November 2016, PM Modi announced that ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes, approximately 86 per cent of the currency in circulation, would cease to be legal tender. The government said the move was intended to attack black money, counterfeit currency and terror financing, while accelerating the transition towards a digital economy.
The announcement triggered enormous disruption. Millions queued outside banks and ATMs, businesses dependent on cash struggled and the informal economy, which employs a vast proportion of India's workforce, was particularly affected. India's Economic Survey acknowledged "real and significant hardships" in the informal sector.
The most consequential postscript came from the Reserve Bank of India. It reported in 2018 that 99.3 per cent of the demonetised currency had returned to the banking system.
That figure complicated the government's original black-money narrative, because relatively little of the invalidated cash remained outside the banking system. The government subsequently emphasised other outcomes, including formalisation, digital payments and improved tax compliance.
Demonetisation therefore remains one of the most contested economic decisions of the Modi era: supporters point to formalisation and digitisation, while critics highlight the disruption and the fact that almost all the banned currency returned to banks.
6. GST: One tax system, but not initially "one simple tax"
The Goods and Services Tax, introduced in July 2017, was arguably the Modi government's most important structural tax reform. It subsumed a range of central and state taxes into a national indirect-tax system, creating a common market across the country. The reform was widely described as an attempt to establish "one nation, one tax, one market".
It initially operated through multiple slabs, including 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent, alongside additional levies on certain products. Businesses complained about compliance burdens and frequent changes to the tax structure.
Even years later, complexity remained a political issue. In 2025, the government undertook a major restructuring of the GST regime, including reducing taxes on a number of consumer goods and effectively dismantling the 28 per cent slab for many products.
7. UPI and digital public infrastructure: One of the government's clearest technological successes
Narendra Modi’s years as a Prime Minister have also coincided with India's extraordinary expansion of digital payments. The Unified Payments Interface (UPI), launched in 2016, became a central pillar of India's digital-payment ecosystem. Its growth accelerated after demonetisation and the COVID-19 pandemic.
By August 2026, UPI was processing approximately 24.5 billion transactions a month, accounting for 84 per cent of India's digital-payment volume and around 49 per cent of global real-time payment volumes, according to government figures cited by Reuters. The success has been significant enough for UPI to become part of India's digital-public-infrastructure model and a component of India's international economic diplomacy.
But even this success story has acquired a new controversy. In September 2026, authorities introduced a framework under which a 0.4 per cent merchant fee would apply to UPI merchant transactions above ₹2,000 from October 15, while small merchants and person-to-person transactions remain exempt. Retail organisations have warned that fees could encourage some businesses to return to cash, while the government and payments authorities argue that the change is needed to make the system financially sustainable.
THE BIG POLITICAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES
8. Article 370: The BJP's longstanding promise becomes reality
On 5 August 2019, the Modi government effectively ended Jammu and Kashmir's special constitutional status under Article 370 and reorganised the former state into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The move fulfilled one of the BJP's longest-standing political promises. The government argued that the change would promote integration, development and security.
The immediate aftermath, however, involved a sweeping security and communications clampdown, including restrictions on communications and the detention of political leaders. The decision remains deeply contested in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Supreme Court upheld the Centre's decision in December 2023, while directing that statehood for Jammu and Kashmir be restored at the earliest opportunity. Seven years after the move, political disagreement remains. On the seventh anniversary in August 2026, Congress activists in Srinagar demonstrated demanding restoration of Article 370 and statehood.
9. Citizenship Amendment Act: Citizenship and how religion become intertwined
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, was one of the most contentious pieces of legislation of PM Modi's second term. It created a faster route to Indian citizenship for undocumented migrants belonging to six non-Muslim religious communities: Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who entered India before 31 December 2014. The government argued that the law provided refuge to persecuted religious minorities from neighbouring countries.
However, the Opposition argued that using religion as a criterion for citizenship violated India's secular constitutional framework and discriminated against Muslims. The legislation triggered mass protests across the country in late 2019 and early 2020. Delhi's communal violence in February 2020 occurred amid the wider political turmoil surrounding the law, with at least 76 people ultimately killed in the violence associated with the period.
The government did not immediately implement the Act because its rules were not notified for more than four years. The rules were finally notified in March 2024, shortly before the Lok Sabha election.
10. Triple Talaq: A major legal intervention in Muslim personal law
In 2019, Parliament passed legislation criminalising instant triple talaq, following a 2017 Supreme Court judgment that had invalidated the practice. The government presented the law as a measure to protect Muslim women and promote gender justice. The legislation was welcomed by many Muslim women and women's rights advocates, while some Muslim organisations and opposition parties objected to the criminalisation aspect and argued that family-law disputes should not automatically become criminal matters. The measure nevertheless became one of the Modi government's signature social and legal reforms, and remains part of the BJP's broader argument for a Uniform Civil Code.
THE POLICIES THAT TRIGGERED THE LARGEST PROTESTS
11. The three farm laws: Reform, resistance and repeal
In 2020, the Modi government enacted three agricultural reform laws intended to liberalise agricultural marketing and give farmers greater freedom to sell produce outside government-regulated APMC mandis. The government argued that the reforms would give farmers more buyers, encourage private investment and improve agricultural markets.
Farm organisations, particularly in Punjab and Haryana, feared that the reforms would weaken the existing procurement system and eventually undermine the Minimum Support Price framework. The resulting protest became one of the largest sustained mass movements against the Modi government. Farmers occupied protest sites around Delhi for more than a year.
On 19 November 2021, Modi announced that the government would repeal all three laws, acknowledging that it had failed to convince a section of farmers of their benefits. Parliament subsequently repealed them. The fallout did not disappear with repeal. Farmers later returned to the streets demanding a legal guarantee for MSP, arguing that commitments made after the repeal had not been adequately implemented.
12. Agnipath: Military reform meets youth anxiety
In 2022, the government introduced Agnipath, a new recruitment model for the armed forces. Under the scheme, most recruits, known as Agniveers, would serve for four years, after which only a proportion would be retained for longer service. The government argued that the model would make the armed forces younger and fitter while reducing the long-term pension burden.
The announcement triggered violent protests across several states. Young jobseekers and veterans objected particularly to the four-year tenure and uncertainty over employment afterwards. Railway property was damaged during protests and trains were set on fire in some locations. The government did not withdraw the scheme but announced measures intended to improve employment prospects for those leaving after four years, including reservations in some government recruitment.
POLICYMAKING DURING THE PANDEMIC
13. The 2020 lockdown: Necessary public-health intervention, chaotic economic fallout
India's nationwide COVID-19 lockdown, announced with only four hours' notice in March 2020, was among the most consequential administrative decisions of the Modi era. The government argued that an immediate lockdown was necessary to prevent an uncontrolled spread of the virus and buy time to expand healthcare capacity.
However, the abrupt shutdown had severe consequences, particularly for migrant workers and the informal economy. With transport suspended and livelihoods disappearing, millions of migrant workers attempted to return to their home states, producing one of the most visible humanitarian crises of the pandemic.
At the same time, the lockdown was followed by one of the world's largest vaccination drives and the development of an extensive digital vaccination infrastructure.
POLITICAL FUNDING AND INSTITUTIONAL QUESTIONS
14. Electoral Bonds: A transparency reform struck down by the Supreme Court
The Electoral Bond Scheme, introduced in 2018, allowed individuals and companies to purchase bonds through the State Bank of India and donate them to political parties without the donor's identity being publicly disclosed. The government argued that the scheme would move political donations away from cash and towards banking channels. Critics argued that anonymous corporate donations created an opaque political-financing system.
The Supreme Court struck down the scheme in February 2024, holding that anonymous political funding violated voters' right to information and that the scheme's anonymity was unconstitutional. The court also directed disclosure of information relating to the bonds.
The scheme became particularly controversial because data subsequently released showed that the BJP had received the largest share of electoral-bond donations.
THE NEW LEGAL ARCHITECTURE
15. New criminal laws: Replacing colonial-era codes
In 2023, Parliament passed three major criminal-law codes replacing the Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and Indian Evidence Act. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam came into force in July 2024.
The government presented the overhaul as a move away from colonial-era laws and towards a criminal-justice system suited to contemporary India. The new laws introduced provisions dealing with organised crime, terrorism, mob violence and electronic evidence, among other changes.
The reform represents a significant structural change whose full consequences will take years to assess because its real impact depends heavily on implementation by police, prosecutors and courts.
16. Women's Reservation: A long-pending constitutional promise
In 2023, Parliament passed the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, providing for one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies. The legislation was widely welcomed as a historic step towards greater representation of women in elected institutions.
Its implementation, however, was tied to a future delimitation exercise and census. That means the political representation promised by the constitutional amendment was not immediately realised.
INDUSTRY, INFRASTRUCTURE AND THE STATE
17. Make in India and Production-Linked Incentives
Make in India, launched in 2014, sought to increase manufacturing, attract foreign investment and position India as a global production hub. The later Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes provided financial incentives to companies expanding production in sectors ranging from electronics and pharmaceuticals to automobiles and telecommunications. The strategy has coincided with a dramatic expansion of India's electronics manufacturing and smartphone assembly industry.
Supporters point to India's emergence as a major electronics manufacturing base and the movement of global supply chains towards India. Critics have argued that manufacturing's share of employment and GDP has not increased to the extent originally envisaged, and that the incentive-led model risks favouring large companies without solving deeper issues involving land, logistics, skills and employment.
THE LARGER WELFARE MODEL
18. Free foodgrains and direct welfare delivery
The Modi government expanded direct welfare transfers and food-security programmes considerably, particularly during and after the pandemic. The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana was introduced during COVID-19 and subsequently extended. Government figures say free foodgrains currently reach more than 81 crore beneficiaries, while broader welfare initiatives have contributed to substantial reductions in multidimensional poverty.
The government's welfare model has increasingly relied on direct transfers, Aadhaar-linked identification and digital infrastructure. Supporters argue that this has reduced leakage and middlemen. Critics have focused on exclusion errors, difficulties faced by people whose documentation or biometric authentication fails, and the distinction between welfare delivery and the creation of secure, well-paid employment. The model's defining feature has been its scale and centralisation.
