India’s Northeastern region is undergoing a transformative digital expansion, redefining its role from peripheral geography to a central technological hub. Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development Pemmasani Chandra Shekhar, speaking at the Rising North East Investors Summit 2025 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, emphasized that the Northeast is now a strategic frontier for AI, 5G, and digital connectivity, bridging India’s domestic innovation landscape with global markets and ASEAN economies.
Over the past decade, India has invested 1.5 trillion rupees to enhance digital and physical infrastructure in the Northeast, with 500 billion rupees allocated to BharatNet and the Digital North East Vision. More than 90 percent of the region now has 4G coverage, and 80 percent of rural households are connected via fiber optics, positioning the Northeast as an emerging green data center hub with vast renewable energy reserves.
Beyond connectivity, the region’s youth-driven tech ecosystem is flourishing. Institutions like IIT Guwahati and NIT Silchar have fueled the rise of startups such as AgSpert, which leverages AI and drone technologies to modernize agriculture. AI-powered governance, tourism, and security solutions are actively being deployed, including 5G-enabled telemedicine in Arunachal Pradesh and AI-driven linguistic preservation through the BHASHINI initiative in Tripura, which facilitates real-time translation across 22 languages.
Chandra Shekhar highlighted the Northeast’s role in India’s Act East Policy, crediting Minister of DoNER Jyotiraditya Scindia for driving policy shifts that repositioned the region as a key component of India’s global digital strategy. He emphasized that AI-powered border security systems, along with smart e-commerce platforms for handicrafts, are unlocking opportunities that align with national security and economic growth.
Urging industry leaders to invest in the rising Northeast, Chandra Shekhar described the region as India’s gateway to ASEAN’s 5 trillion dollar digital economy. He envisioned a future where the tea gardens of Assam that once fueled empires now power AI algorithms and where strategic borders transform from security challenges to innovation hubs for defense technology. The Northeast’s evolution symbolizes India’s ambition to drive digital leadership beyond metropolitan cities, demonstrating that vision, investment, and talent can turn regional aspirations into global success stories.
