India’s AI Revolution Why in News?

India’s AI Revolution

Why in News?

India is undergoing a comprehensive transformation in Artificial Intelligence (AI), propelled by proactive government policies under the IndiaAI Mission. This initiative aligns with the vision of a "Viksit Bharat" (Developed India) by 2047, positioning India as a global leader in AI.

How is India Transforming into a Global AI Powerhouse?

Strengthening AI Infrastructure:

• The government is establishing a state-of-the-art computing center featuring 18,693 Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), nearly nine times more than DeepSeek and two-thirds of ChatGPT's processing power.
• The Open GPU Marketplace allows startups, researchers, and students to access affordable high-performance computing.
• India aims to develop its own GPUs within 3 to 5 years, reducing reliance on foreign technologies like Quantum chips.
• The IndiaAI Dataset Platform provides high-quality, anonymized datasets to support AI research and development.
• India has set up AI Centres of Excellence (CoEs) in sectors like Healthcare, Agriculture, and Sustainable Cities, with a new AI CoE in Education funded by Rs 500 crore in the 2025 Union Budget.

AI Skilling:

• Five National AI Skilling Centres are being established to train youth for careers in AI, aligning with the "Make for India, Make for the World" vision.
• The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 integrates AI education at all levels.
• India ranks first globally in AI skill penetration (Stanford AI Index 2024), with a 263% increase in AI talent since 2016 and a fourteen-fold rise in AI-skilled workforce (2016-2023).
• India has approximately 520 tech incubators and accelerators, making it the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world.

Indigenous AI Models:

• BharatGen is the world’s first government-funded multimodal Large Language Model (LLM) initiative aimed at delivering AI-driven public services.
• Sarvam-1 is a 2-billion-parameter model that supports 10 Indian languages for translation and content generation.
• AI Kosha is a government-backed platform that provides non-personal datasets to assist businesses, researchers, and startups in developing AI solutions.
• Digital India BHASHINI is an AI-powered language translation platform for improved digital accessibility.
• Chitralekha is an open-source video transcreation tool designed for Indic languages.

AI with Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI):

• AI is integrated with Aadhaar, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), and DigiLocker to enhance efficiency.
• AI-driven crowd monitoring systems optimize railway passenger movement, and MuleHunter.AI, developed by the Reserve Bank of India, detects mule bank accounts used for fraud and money laundering.

AI-Driven Economic Growth:

• 80% of Indian companies prioritize AI as a key strategic goal, with 69% planning to increase AI investments in 2025.
• Funding for Indian Generative AI (GenAI) startups surged sixfold, reaching USD 51 million in FY2025 (NASSCOM Report).
• India holds 16% of the world’s AI talent, driving AI-powered automation in sectors such as fintech and healthcare.
• 78% of Small & Medium Businesses (SMBs) using AI have reported revenue growth.
• India's AI market is projected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 25-35%, with AI talent demand expected to reach 1 million by 2026.

AI Regulation:

• India’s AI regulatory framework includes the Information Technology Act of 2000, Principles for Responsible AI (2021), and the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (2018) to ensure safety, transparency, and accountability.
• The country is focusing on avoiding overregulation while addressing risks like deep fakes, privacy concerns, and cybersecurity threats.

Global AI Governance Leadership:

• India is playing an active role in shaping global AI regulatory frameworks, hosting the Global INDIAai Summit 2024 and showcasing its AI initiatives at forums like the G20, Paris AI Summit 2025, and the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) Summit.

What is the IndiaAI Mission?

Click here to Read: IndiaAI Mission

What are the Concerns in India’s AI Transformation?

Limited AI Hardware Capabilities:

• India remains dependent on foreign-made GPUs and semiconductor technologies. Many AI startups rely on cloud computing services from global tech giants like AWS, Google, and Microsoft.
• The lack of indigenous AI chip manufacturing means startups must rely on foreign-made AI chips.

Skilling Challenges:

• Despite leading in AI skill penetration, there is a shortage of highly specialized AI researchers. Most AI professionals are engaged in service-based roles rather than in deep-tech innovation.
• Automation is projected to displace up to 60 million workers in India’s manufacturing sector by 2030, and uneven AI adoption across rural and Tier-2/Tier-3 cities is exacerbating the digital divide.

Ethical Concerns:

• Risks of bias in AI models due to insufficiently diverse datasets.
• The absence of a dedicated AI law to regulate data usage, facial recognition, and deepfake technologies.

Regulatory Uncertainty:

• India currently lacks a dedicated AI regulatory framework, with policies fragmented across different ministries. Comprehensive AI ethics guidelines are also lacking, leaving key issues like bias, accountability, and transparency unaddressed.

Environmental Impact:

• AI hardware and data centers contribute to 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions, with that figure expected to double by 2026. India also lacks regulations on the water usage and carbon footprint of AI data centers.

What Steps Can India Take to Address AI Transformation Challenges?

Strengthening AI Hardware:

• India should focus on boosting domestic AI chip manufacturing through the Semicon India Programme and incentivize fabless chip design startups and AI hardware R&D.
• Support for the development of quantum AI processors should be enhanced through the National Quantum Mission.

AI Workforce Development:

• Expanding the FutureSkills Prime initiative to train youth in AI and digital technologies will help reinforce India’s position as a global digital talent hub.

AI Regulatory Framework:

• India should enact a dedicated AI & Quantum Act to regulate AI development and mitigate its environmental impact, drawing inspiration from international frameworks like the EU AI Act (2024) and the US Artificial Intelligence Environmental Impacts Act (2024).

Ensuring Inclusive AI Growth:

• The RAISE 2020 initiative should promote AI as a tool for social transformation, inclusion, and empowerment through responsible development.

Sustainable AI Development:

• India should focus on designing energy-efficient AI algorithms and infrastructures, integrating AI into smart grids to optimize power usage.
  

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