NITI Aayog has unveiled a roadmap to enhance data quality across India, aiming to plug leakages, boost efficiency, and cultivate public trust in digital governance. This initiative comes as part of the third edition of its quarterly insights series, "Future Front," titled "India's Data Imperative: The Pivot Towards Quality," released on Tuesday, June 24, 2025. The report highlights that poor data quality leads to significant fiscal drainage, with erroneous or duplicate beneficiary records inflating welfare outlays by an estimated 4-7% annually.
The core of NITI Aayog's strategy involves assigning clear ownership for data at all levels—national, state, and district. This means designating data custodians who are not only responsible for compliance but also accountable for the ongoing health and maintenance of the data. The report emphasizes that quality suffers when data ownership is ambiguous, advocating for stewardship to ensure continuous data care.
Another crucial aspect of the roadmap is ensuring data interoperability across different systems and departments. The aim is to create a seamless flow of information, breaking down silos and enabling more effective policy-making and service delivery. NITI Aayog also stresses the importance of incentivizing quality data over quantity. Many public programs currently reward the number of enrollments completed or forms submitted, which can lead to rushed data entry and reduced accuracy. The roadmap suggests shifting the focus to rewarding accuracy and implementing real-time validation during data entry.
To support these efforts, the report introduces two practical tools: a Data-Quality Scorecard for measuring and tracking data quality attributes, and a Data-Quality Maturity Framework for self-assessment and roadmap development. These tools are designed to be user-friendly, enabling departments to conveniently assess their current data landscape, identify gaps, and chart a clear path for improvement.
The report identifies several challenges in data use across the entire data value chain, including storage, sharing, and retirement of data. To address these challenges, the roadmap suggests several pathways for improvement, including conducting regular, sample-based data audits and using dashboards to track data quality, not just outputs.
The initiative also recognizes that technology alone cannot solve the data quality problem. It calls for a cultural shift where quality is everyone's responsibility, not just the IT teams. This requires capacity building, leadership development, and hands-on support to sustain momentum. States are encouraged to lead the way by embedding data quality cells, linking quality to service outcomes, and recognizing excellence.
NITI Aayog's report emphasizes that India's digital future depends not only on the number of platforms built but also on the trust built into them, which begins with data that is ready to serve. The report highlights that inconsistent and non-standardized datasets distort evidence, leading to mis-targeted schemes or delayed course-corrections. Furthermore, mismatched records and rejected claims erode public trust in digital governance. By prioritizing data quality, NITI Aayog aims to strengthen digital governance, ensure targeted welfare delivery, and drive cross-sector innovation, building Digital India on a robust foundation of trust.
