A computerization and digitalization programme for an "Automated Retrieval System" with the help of tailor made software known as "Archival Information Management System (AIMS)", was launched in 1998 in which the preparation of reference media of the record holdings was initiated with the following series: Home (Pub.) (1748-1859), Home (Pol.) (1907-68), Foreign & Political Deptt. (1860-1946), Ministry of External Affairs (1947-1970) and Ministry of States'(1947-1953) etc.
A search web Portal namely "www. abhilekh-patal.in” (link is external) was launched by the than Honorable Minister of Culture on 11 March 2015 on the occasion of 125th Foundation Day Celebrations to make its rich treasure is available to scholars/researchers and users on internet. It contains the reference media of 28 lakh records, 127142 Digitized Records, 6269032 Digitized Pages. The Department has initiated the process of DOD (Digitize On Demand) and POD (page on demand) with implementation of E-payment gateway. The Department has also launched a search portal for the declassified files relating to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose namely "www.netajipapers.gov.in" (link is external) on 23 January 2016 by Hon'ble Prime Minister of India. The mobile app for android was launched on 20th June 2022 by Honorable Minister of State of Culture
The Department has also computerized the reference media of Library Books in the "Libsys" Software. The data of which has been imported in the Koha Software (enriched with latest many features).
Digital Preservation of e-Records
National Archives of India (NAI) has initiated a project for Mass Digitization of its record holdings from January 2021 with two objectives: first, to make them accessible through its search portal https://www.abhilekhpatal.in, and second, to ensure the preservation of both physical and digitized records for posterity. As of 27th April 2026, 20,41,63,325 digitized pages have been uploaded and made available online on Abhilekh-Patal.
It is noteworthy that despite initiating the Mass Digitization project only in 2021, with 20.07 million pages digitized National Archives of India ranks second among major National Archives of the world after the National Archives and Record Administration of the USA (205 million pages) in the total number of pages digitized.
The National Archives of India (NAI) has outsourced the digitization of 30 crore pages under this project for completion within the next two years in TIFF, JPG, and PDF formats. The selected vendor is required to scan 6 lakh pages per day across different locations of NAI, i.e. NAI Headquarters, New Delhi; NAI Regional Office, Bhopal; and NAI Records Centres at Jaipur, Bhubaneswar, and Puducherry. The vendor has installed 55 scanners at NAI Headquarters, New Delhi, and 20 scanners (5 each) at the Regional Office and Records Centres.