Premiership of Narendra Modi
The premiership of Narendra Modi began 26 May 2014 with his swearing-in as the prime minister of India at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He succeeded Manmohan Singh of the Indian National Congress.
In 2019, he was elected as the prime minister of India for a second term and sworn in at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on 30 May 2019. His second cabinet consisted of 54 ministers and initially had 51 ministers, which was expanded to 77 ministers during a reshuffle on 7 July 2021. Modi was sworn in for a third term as prime minister, heading a coalition government, on 9 June 2024.
His premiership has, to a considerable extent, embodied a high command culture. India has experienced significant democratic backsliding under his tenure.
Modi is the longest serving non-Congress prime minister of India. In 2024, Modi became the first non-Congress leader to win three consecutive general elections and secure a third consecutive term as prime minister of India, with Jawaharlal Nehru being the only other person to do so. As of August 2025, Modi is the third longest serving prime minister of India, after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. His first cabinet consisted of 45 ministers, 25 fewer than the previous United Progressive Alliance government. A total of 21 ministers were added to the council of ministers on 9 November 2014.
Economic policies
Overall
The economic policies of Modi's government focused on privatisation and liberalization of the economy, based on a neoliberal framework. Modi liberalised India's foreign direct investment policies, allowing more foreign investment in several industries, including in defence and the railways.The first eight years of Modi's premiership, India's GDP grew at an average rate of 5.5% compared to the rate of 7.03% under the previous government.
The level of income inequality increased significantly, while an internal government report said that in 2017, unemployment had increased to its highest level in 45 years. This was attributed to the 2016 demonetisation, which was an issuance of new banknotes in an effort to curtail the black market, as well as the effects of the
Goods and Services Tax, the biggest tax reform in the country since independence.
One of the major impacts of Modi's economic reforms has been introduction of UPI payment service, an indigenous payment system that made India a leading nation in cashless transactions. UPI has visibly contributed to reduced corruption and increased financial inclusion.
Labour and employment
Modi's labour reforms received support from institutions such as the World Bank, but opposition from socialist and communist parties, scholars, and worker rights groups within the country. The labour laws also drew strong opposition from unions: on 2 September 2015, eleven of the country's largest unions went on strike, including one affiliated with the BJP. The strike was estimated to have cost the economy $3.7 billion. In 2025, Modi's government announced reforms to the country's labour laws.Healthcare
Public transportation
Other major reforms and policies
The government has increased the Budget for National Mission for Green India from Rs. 290 Crore to 361.69 Crore. The public expenditure on education including technical education as a percentage of GDP for the year 2013-2014 was 4.44% which was later reduced to 4.35% in the year 2014-2015 and was later increased to 4.56% in the year 2015–2016 by Modi Government.The government substantially increased the percentage of central revenue directly granted to states, while decreasing the amount granted through various central government programs. Overall, states' share of revenue increased marginally. The criteria upon which individual states' allocation was determined were changed, such that the revenue to 19 states increased, and that of 10 states decreased. Only one of the ten states was ruled by the BJP when the policy was enacted.
On 25 June 2015, Modi launched a program intended to develop 100 smart cities. The "Smart Cities" program is expected to bring IT companies an extra benefit of. He also launched a "smart villages" initiative, under which villages would be given Internet access, clean water, sanitation, and low-carbon energy, with Members of Parliament overseeing the program's implementation. The program had a stated goal of at least 2,50 smart villages by 2019.
Give up LPG subsidy was a campaign launched by Modi in March 2015. It was aimed at motivating LPG users who can afford to pay the market price for LPG to voluntarily surrender their LPG subsidy. As at 23 April 2016 1 crore people had voluntarily given up the subsidy.
The surrendered subsidy is being used by the government to provide cooking gas connections to poor families in rural households free of cost. Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi and Tamil Nadu are the top five states to give up the subsidy.
Social welfare
Modi launched Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana in August 2014. The initiative aimed to create bank accounts and debit cards for 150 million families, and to allow them an overdraft of and accident insurance. After the launch, 125.4 million accounts were opened by January 2015. The scheme has failed to improve the economic prosperity across states. "Poor usage of financial services" and "a rise in the number of dormant accounts" have been cited as the limitations of the scheme, with 30% of accounts remaining dormant.Modi government launched the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana in April 2015. Under this scheme, loans up to are given for non-agricultural activities under the three categories: Shishu ; Kishore and Tarun. According to a report by the SKOCH Group, this scheme has generated 1.68 crore incremental jobs in the first two years until September 2017.
In June 2015, Modi launched the "Housing for All By 2022" project, which intends to eliminate slums in India by building about 20 million affordable homes for India's urban poor. A total of 4,718 camps were held from 2014 to 2017, benefiting 6.40 lakh beneficiaries under Assistance to Disabled Persons for Purchase/Fitting of Aids/Appliances scheme, as compared to 37 camps from 2012 to 2014.
In 2019, a law was passed to provide 10% reservation to Economically weaker sections.
Modi also launched Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana on 1 May 2016 to distribute 50 million LPG connections to women of BPL families. A budgetary allocation of was made for the scheme. In the first year of its launch, the connections distributed were 22 million against the target of 15 million. As of 23 October 2017, 30 million connections were distributed, 44% of which were given to families belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. The number crossed 58 million by December 2018. In 2018 Union Budget of India, its scope was widened to include 80 million poor households. 21,000 awareness camps were conducted by oil marketing companies. The scheme led to an increase in LPG consumption by 56% in 2019 as compared to 2014.
Hindutva
During the 2014 election campaign, Modi publicly expressed hopes for a tenure without communal violence. The BJP sought to identify itself with political leaders known to have opposed Hindu nationalism, including B. R. Ambedkar, Subhas Chandra Bose, and Ram Manohar Lohia. The campaign also featured BJP leaders in some states using rhetoric rooted in Hindutva, a far-right Hindu nationalist ideology. Communal tensions were played upon especially in Uttar Pradesh and the states of Northeast India. A proposal for the controversial Uniform Civil Code was a part of the BJP's election manifesto. The BJP increasingly employed rhetoric rooted in Hindutva during the 2019 and 2024 elections.Several state governments headed by the BJP have enacted policies aligned with Hindutva after the election of Modi as prime minister. The government of Haryana made changes to its education policy that introduced Hindu religious elements into the curriculum. External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj suggested after the election that the Bhagavad Gita, an ancient Hindu scripture, be adopted as India's "national book". There has been an increase in the activities of a number of other Hindu nationalist organisations, sometimes with the support of the government. The incidents included a campaign against "Love Jihad", a Hindu religious conversion programme conducted by members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a far-right Hindutva paramilitary organisation, alongside other organisations such as the Hindu Mahasabha, a right-wing to far-right Hindu nationalist political party. The attempts at religious conversion have been described by the Vishva Hindu Parishad and other organisations involved with them as attempts at "reconversion" from Islam or Christianity. However, no evidence was found by police in many states to support the "love-jihad" narrative. There have been a number of reports of intimidation or coercion of the subjects during these attempts. There were additional incidents of violence targeted at religious minorities by Hindu nationalists. Modi refused to remove a government minister from her position after a popular outcry resulted from her referring to religious minorities as "bastards". Commentators have suggested, however, that the violence was perpetrated by radical Hindu nationalists to undercut the authority of Modi.
The Modi administration appointed Yellapragada Sudershan Rao, who had previously been associated with the RSS, chairperson of the Indian Council of Historical Research. In reaction to his appointment, other historians and former members of the ICHR, including those sympathetic to the ruling party, questioned his credentials as a historian. Several stated that the appointment was part of an agenda of cultural nationalism.
On 8 January 2019, India's lower house of parliament approves a bill that would grant residency and citizenship rights to non-Muslim immigrants who entered the country before 2014 – including Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from three Muslim-majority countries – and make them eligible for Indian citizenship. The Bill excludes Muslims.
On 6 August 2019, the Supreme Court of India passed resolution on creation of Ram Mandir on the disputed land of Ayodhya. The verdict also stated to provide for creation of a mosque on another part of the land. The land was given to the Sunni Waqf Board. On 5 August 2020, Narendra Modi attended the Bhoomipujan at Ayodhya. He became the first prime minister to visit Ram Janmabhoomi and Hanuman Garhi.
On 8 March 2019, the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor Project was launched by Narendra Modi to ease access between the temple and the Ganges River, creating a wider space to prevent overcrowding. On 13 December 2021, Modi inaugurated the corridor with a sacred ceremony.
According to Sumantra Bose, a London School of Economics professor, since being reelected in May 2019, Modi's government has "moved on to larger-scale, if still localized, state-sanctioned mob violence".
Under Modi's tenure, bulldozers have been used in many Muslim neighborhoods for demolitions of homes, shops and other property owned by Muslims accused in crimes or riots. BJP officials have defended the use of demolitions as they say properties are illegal. In Delhi, the demolition drive even violated the Supreme Court order which asked the authorities to immediately stop the demolitions.