India is undergoing a significant transformation in Artificial Intelligence (AI), driven by various initiatives like: IndiaAI Mission and the establishment of Centres of Excellence (CoE) for AI are bolstering India’s AI ecosystem.
- All these initiatives are in alignment with the vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047, where India aims to become a global hub of AI, leveraging cutting-edge technology for economic growth, governance, and societal progress.
- In 2024, the Government of India(GoI) approved the IndiaAI Mission with an outlay of Rs 10,300 crore over five years to strengthen AI capabilities in India.
- The Mission is being implemented by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) through ‘IndiaAI’ Independent Business Division (IBD) under Digital India Corporation (DIC).
AI Revolution:
i.Development of high-end common computing facility: Under IndiaAI Mission, the GoI aims to develop a high-end common computing facility equipped with 18,693 Graphics Processing Units (GPUs).
- This capacity is approximately 9 times that of the open-source AI model DeepSeek and about 2/3rd (66.66%) of what ChatGPT operates on.
ii.Scaling AI Compute Infrastructure: So far, 10,000 GPUs have already been made available under the mission. This will enable the creation of indigenous AI solutions customised to Indian languages and contexts.
ii.Opening Access to High-Performance Computing: The launch of an open GPU marketplace in India, has made high-performance computing accessible to startups, researchers, and students.
iii.Robust GPU Supply Chain: 10 companies have been selected by the GoI, to supply the GPUs, ensuring a robust and diversified supply chain.
iv.Indigenous GPU Capabilities: India aims to develop its own GPU in the next 3 to 5 years, in order to reduce its dependence on imported technology.
v.Affordable Compute Access: The GoI is planning to launch a new common compute facility, which will enable the researchers and startups to access GPU power at a highly subsidised rate of Rs 100 per hour, against the global rate of USD 2.5 to USD 3 per hour.
vi.Bolstering Semiconductor Manufacturing: In order to promote semiconductor manufacturing in India, 5 semiconductor plants are under construction.
Key Advancements in AI :
i.IndiaAI Dataset Platform for Open Data Access: The GoI has launched this platform to facilitate easy access to high-quality, non-personal datasets.
- This platform will store the largest collection of anonymised data, to empower Indian startups and researchers to develop advanced AI applications (app).
ii.Promoting AI Model Accuracy with diverse range of data: By facilitating access to large-scale, non-personal datasets, will help in reducing biases and enhance the reliability of AI apps across various sectors: agriculture, weather forecasting, and traffic management.
iii.Centres of Excellence (CoE) in AI: So far, the GoI has established 3 AI CoE. The CoE in healthcare will be led by New Delhi(Delhi) based Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) Delhi and AIIMS Delhi, while the CoE in agriculture will be led by IIT Ropar,Punjab. The sustainable cities CoE will be led by IIT Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh(UP).
- GoI announced a new CoE for AI in education (which will be 4th CoE in AI), in the Union Budget for Financial Year 2025-26 (FY26) with an outlay of Rs 500 crore.
iv.Skilling for AI-driven Industries: The GoI is planning to set up 5 National CoE for Skilling in India. These CoE will train youth with AI industry-relevant expertise.
India’s AI Models & Language Technologies:
i.Developing India’s Foundational LLMs: IndiaAI mission has launched an initiative to develop local foundational AI models, including Large Language Models (LLMs) and Small Language Models (SLMs), through a call for proposals.
ii.BHASHINI: BHASHa INterface for India(BHASHINI) is an AI-led language translation platform, designed to provide smooth access to the internet and digital services in Indian languages, which includes voice-based access, and support content creation in Indian languages.
iii.BharatGen: It is the world’s 1st government-funded multimodal LLM initiative, launched in 2024 in New Delhi. The initiative aims to improve public service delivery and citizen engagement through foundational models in language, speech and computer vision.
iv.Sarvam-1 AI Model: It is a large language model for optimization of Indian languages. It consists of 2 billion parameters and supports 10 major Indian languages.
- The key applications of this model: language translation, text summarization, and content generation.
v.Chitralekha: It is an open-source video trans-creation platform developed by AI4Bharat. It allows users to generate and edit audio transcripts in various Indic languages.
vi.Hanooman’s Everest 1.0: It is a multi-lingual AI system developed by Hyderabad(Telangana) based Seetha Mahalaxmi Healthcare Private Limited (SML), which currently supports 35 Indian languages, with plans to expand to 90.
AI Integration with DPI:
i.Integration: India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) has combined public funding with private sector-led innovation.
ii.Use of DPI in Mahakumbh 2025: AI-powered DPI solutions played a pivotal role in managing Mahakumbh 2025.
- AI-powered tools helped in monitoring real-time railway passenger movement to optimize crowd dispersal in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh (UP).
- Kumbh Sah’AI’yak Chatbot enabled voice-based lost-and-found services, real-time translation, and multi-lingual assistance.
AI Talent and Workforce Development:
i.AI Talent Pipeline & AI Education: AI Education is being expanded across undergraduate, post-graduate, and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) programs, under the IndiaAI Future Skills initiative.
- GoI is providing fellowships to Ph.D. scholars researching AI in the top 50 National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF)-ranked institutes.
- IndiaAI Data Lab is already established at National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology (NIELIT) Delhi.
ii.India Ranks 1st Globally in AI Skill Penetration: As per the Stanford AI Index 2024, India topped in AI skill penetration globally, with a score of 2.8. It is followed by the United States of America (USA) (2.2) and Germany (1.9).
- Also, India topped in AI Skill Penetration for Women with a score of 1.7, ahead of USA (1.2) and Israel (0.9).
iii.AI Innovation: India represents 16% of the world’s AI talent, demonstrating its influence in AI innovation and adoption.
iv.AI Talent Hubs: Wheelbox’s India Skills Report 2024 projects India’s AI industry will reach USD 28.8 billion by 2025, at 45% Compounded Annual Growth (CAGR).
- The AI-skilled workforce witnessed 14-times increase from 2016 to 2023, thus, India emerged as one of the top 5 fastest-growing AI talent hubs, alongside Singapore, Finland, Ireland and Canada.
- Also, the demand of AI professionals in India is expected to reach 1 million by 2026.
AI Adoption and Industry Progress:
i.Businesses Preferring AI Investments: According to Boston Consulting Group (BCG), 80% of Indian companies consider AI a core strategic priority, which is more than the global average of 75%.
- In Addition to that, 69% aim to increase their tech investments in 2025, with 1/3rd or 33.33% allocating more than USD 25 million to AI initiatives.
ii.GenAI Startup Funding: According to National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM)’s November 2024 report, Indian GenAI startup funding increased more than 6 times Quarter-on-Quarter (Q-o-Q) to USD 51 million in 2nd Quarter (Q2: July to September) of FY25, supported by Business-to-Business (B2B) and agentic AI startups.
iii.AI transforming workplaces: As per the Randstad AI and Equity report 2024, 7 in 10 employees in India used AI at work in 2024 (increase from 5 in 10 in 2023).
iv.AI Empowering SMBs: According to Salesforce, Inc., an American cloud-based software company, 78% of Small & Medium Businesses (SMBs) using AI registered revenue growth, while 93% informed that AI has played a pivotal role in increasing their revenues.
v.Rapid Expansion of India’s AI Economy: According to the BCG-NASSCOM report 2024, India’s AI economy is expected to grow at a CAGR of 25-35%.
vi.AI Startup Support Ecosystem: India ranks at 3rd position globally as it hosts more than 520 tech incubators and accelerators, of which 42% were established in the last 5 years.
