Transforming India with Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Why in News ?

The Government of India has highlighted the scale and impact of the IndiaAI Mission, backed by an investment of over ₹10,300 crore and deployment of 38,000 Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), positioning Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a key driver of inclusive growth, innovation, and digital governance.

Background & Context

Artificial Intelligence is emerging as a foundational technology reshaping economies, governance systems, and societies worldwide. For India, AI represents not only a tool for economic expansion but also a means to address long-standing development challenges in healthcare, agriculture, education, urban governance, and climate resilience.

India’s AI strategy emphasises:

• Democratisation of computing power
• Indigenous model development
• Inclusive and responsible AI adoption
• Alignment with Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI)

This approach aligns with India’s long-term vision of Viksit Bharat @2047.

What is Artificial Intelligence ?

Artificial Intelligence refers to the ability of machines to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as:

• Learning from data
• Pattern recognition
• Decision-making
• Language understanding and generation

AI systems rely on:

• Large datasets
• Algorithms and machine learning models
• High-performance computing infrastructure

Over time, AI systems improve autonomously, enabling applications such as chatbots, image recognition, predictive analytics, and large language models (LLMs).

India’s AI Ecosystem: Present Status

Key Indicators

• India’s tech sector revenue projected to exceed USD 280 billion
• Over 6 million professionals employed in tech and AI
• 1,800+ Global Capability Centres, with 500+ focused on AI
• Around 1.8 lakh startups, with nearly 89% using AI
• 87% of enterprises actively deploying AI solutions
• Around 26% of firms have achieved AI maturity at scale

Leading AI-Adopting Sectors

• Industrial & automotive
• BFSI
• Healthcare
• Retail and consumer goods

India’s Global Standing in AI

According to Stanford University’s 2025 Global AI Vibrancy Tool:

• India ranks 3rd globally in AI competitiveness
• Strong performance in:
  • Talent pool
  • Research output
  • Startup ecosystem
  • Policy and governance

India is also:

• Second-largest contributor to AI projects on GitHub
• Among the top four countries in AI skills and capabilities

IndiaAI Mission

Vision: “Making AI in India and Making AI Work for India”

Overview

• Approved in March 2024
• Budget outlay: ₹10,371.92 crore over five years
• Implemented by IndiaAI, under MeitY

Infrastructure Expansion

• Initial target: 10,000 GPUs
• Achieved: 38,000 GPUs
• Subsidised access at ₹65 per hour

Seven Pillars of the IndiaAI Mission

1. IndiaAI Compute

• Affordable access to high-end GPUs
• Enables startups, academia, and MSMEs to train AI models

2. IndiaAI Application Development

• Focus on India-specific challenges:
  • Healthcare
  • Agriculture
  • Climate change
  • Governance
  • Education
• Over 30 AI applications approved
• Sector-specific hackathons to drive innovation

3. AIKosh (National Dataset Platform)

• Repository of high-quality datasets
• Over 5,500 datasets and 251 AI models
• Supports 20+ sectors
• Enables faster AI development

4. IndiaAI Foundation Models

• Development of sovereign large multimodal models
• Trained on Indian languages and datasets
• Ensures strategic autonomy in generative AI
• Multiple startups and academic consortia selected

5. IndiaAI Future Skills

• Capacity building and skilling:
  • 500 PhD fellows
  • 5,000 postgraduates
  • 8,000 undergraduates
• AI and Data Labs in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities
• ITIs and polytechnics integrated

6. IndiaAI Startup Financing

• Financial and global expansion support
• IndiaAI Startups Global programme
• Market access to Europe and other regions

7. Safe and Trusted AI

• Focus on ethical and responsible AI
• Key areas:
  • Bias mitigation
  • Explainability
  • Privacy-preserving ML
  • AI auditing and governance

AI in Governance and Everyday Life

Healthcare

• Early disease detection
• AI-assisted diagnostics
• Telemedicine in remote regions

Agriculture

• Weather prediction
• Pest surveillance
• Crop advisory systems

Education

• Personalised learning
• AI modules under NEP 2020
• Multilingual digital education platforms

Justice and Governance

• AI-enabled translation of judgments
• Intelligent case management
• Enhanced access to justice

Climate and Disaster Management

• AI-based cyclone and rainfall forecasting
• Fire and lightning prediction
• Climate advisory tools

AI for Inclusive Societal Development

As per NITI Aayog’s 2025 report, AI can empower:

• 490 million informal workers
• Improve access to:
  • Healthcare
  • Skilling
  • Financial services

Digital ShramSetu Mission (Proposed)

• Voice-first AI interfaces
• Smart contracts for payments
• Micro-credentials and on-demand skilling

Challenges and Risks

• Digital divide and access inequality
• Data privacy and surveillance concerns
• Algorithmic bias
• Job displacement fears
• Cybersecurity risks

Way Forward

• Strengthening AI governance frameworks
• Expanding public AI infrastructure
• Ethical AI standards and audits
• Continuous skilling and reskilling
• Global collaboration with strategic autonomy