India is ahead of America's Silicon Valley in the field of IT, exemplified among other things by the fact the Covid vaccination certificate here is available digitally while the rest of the countries still have it on paper, Union minister Anurag Thakur has said.

The country today is moving towards becoming a digital economy with "chaiwala to fadiwala (roadside vendors)" all doing their businesses with the help of Internet, he said.

Digital transactions worth Rs 12.62 lakh crore have been recorded in the country since the BJP came to power in 2014, he said during a meeting of party functionaries at Una last night, according to a release issued on Sunday.

Thakur said nine years ago when the Congress government was in power at the Center, inflation was 12 percent and "corruption" was rampant. Today when countries like the United States are struggling with an inflation rate of 8.3 percent, and India's inflation rate is 5.7 percent, he said.

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the country's economy would grow at 7 percent, he said, adding the Foreign Direct Investment has grown two times as compared to the previous Congress government. The number of startups in the country is 90,000, he said.

He said the central government administered 220 crore coronavirus vaccines free of cost to the people of the country during the difficult times of Covid, gave free food grains to 80 crore poor people for 28 months by spending Rs 4 lakh crore.

"In India the Covid vaccine certificate is available digitally on phone while the rest of the countries still have it on paper and India is ahead of America's Silicon Valley in the field of Information Technology (IT)," he said.

On Budget announcements, he said the capital expenditure allocation has been increased to Rs 10 lakh crore in the Budget which will create a massive amount of jobs. Also, a provision of Rs 20 lakh crore Kisan Credit Card has been made which will greatly benefit the farmers".

Stating that 400 days are left for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in the country, he asked the party functionaries to work unitedly and effectively to retain power. The BJP would once again form a strong government at the centre and win all the four parliament seats in Himachal, he added.

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