In November 2025, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) released the “India AI Governance Guidelines– Enabling Safe and Trusted AI Innovation” under the IndiaAI Mission to provide a comprehensive framework for the safe, inclusive, and responsible adoption of Artificial Intelligence(AI) across India’s sectors
- The guidelines were officially unveiled by Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India (GoI) in the presence of S. Krishnan, Secretary of MeitY; Abhishek Singh, Additional Secretary (AS) of MeitY and Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of the IndiaAI Mission, and Director General (DG) of National Informatics Centre (NIC), in New Delhi, Delhi.
- The launch serves as a precursor to the India–AI Impact Summit 2026, scheduled for February 19–20 in New Delhi.
Exam Hints:
- What? India AI Governance Guidelines Launched
- Launched by: Prof Ajay Kumar Sood, PSA, GoI
- Prepared by: Committee headed by Prof. Balaraman Ravindran
- Four Components: Key Principle, Key recommendations, Action plans, Practical Guidelines
- IndiaAI Hackathon – Mineral Targeting Winners:
- 1st: CricSM AI – Rs. 10 lakhs
- 2nd: Knowledge & Data-Driven Mineral Targeting Approach – Rs. 7 lakhs
- 3rd: SUVARN – Rs. 5 lakhs
About India AI Governance Guidelines:
Objective: It lays out a phased, multi-stakeholder approach that aims to balance innovation with oversight and aligns with existing legal frameworks rather than introducing new legislation.
Drafted by: The guidelines have been drafted by a high-level committee under the chairmanship of Prof. Balaraman Ravindran, Indian Institute Of Technology–Madras (IIT–Madras, Tamil Nadu, TN) comprising various other policy experts.
Key Components:The framework comprises of four key components:
Key Principles: The following seven guiding principles or sutras have been adapted from the Reserve Bank of India(RBI’s) Framework for Responsible and Ethical Enablement of AI(FREE-AI ) Committee report to guide the overall approach:
- Trust is the foundation
- People First
- Innovation over Restraint
- Fairness and Equity
- Accountability
- Understandable by Design
- Safety, Resilience and Sustainability
Key Recommendations: This examines the key issues in AI governance from India’s perspective & makes recommendations across six pillars – Infrastructure, Capacity Building, Policy & Regulation, Risk Mitigation, Accountability and Institutions.
Action Plan: The action plan identifies outcomes mapped to short, medium and long-term timelines.
Practical guidelines: This provides practical guidance for industry actors and regulators to increase clarity, predictability, and accountability in the ecosystem.
- For industry: Ensure compliance with all Indian laws; adopt voluntary frameworks; publish transparency reports; provide grievance redressal mechanisms; mitigate risks with techno-legal solutions.
- For regulators: Support innovation while mitigating real harms; avoid compliance-heavy regimes; promote techno-legal approaches; ensure frameworks are flexible and subject to periodic review.
Winners of IndiaAI Hackathon
During the event, the winners of the IndiaAI Hackathon for Mineral Targeting, conducted under the Applications Development Pillar of the IndiaAI Mission in collaboration with the Geological Survey of India (GSI), Ministry of Mines, were also announced.
| Prize | Project | Members | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Critical and strategic mineral mapping with AI – CricSM AI | Prof. Partha Pratim Mandal, Dinesh Munda, Litan Dutta, Tanmay Singh, Sai Satyam Jena and Dr. Pradeep Kumar Shukla | Rs. 10 lakhs |
| 2nd | Knowledge and Data-Driven Mineral Targeting Approach | Soumya Mitra, Saptarshi Mallick, Kshounish Patra, and Santu Biswas | Rs. 7 lakhs |
| 3rd | SUVARN: Semi-Unsupervised Value-adaptive Artificial Resource Network | Sayantani Bhattacharya, Dr. Sabyasachi Nag, Arun A, and Yavthish Kannaa G S | Rs. 5 lakhs |
| Special | Encouraging AI and ML (Machine Learning) solution for Identification of new potential areas for exploration of critical minerals and other commodities | Deepa Kumari, Anamika Choudhary, and Sandhya Jagannathan | Rs. 5 lakhs |
About Ministry of Electronic and Information Technology (MeitY):
Union Minister – Ashwini Vaishnaw (Rajya Sabha – Odisha)
Minister of State (MoS) – Jitin Prasada (Constituency – Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh, UP)
