India is entering a transformative era powered by Artificial Intelligence, where technology is reshaping daily life, strengthening governance, and accelerating national development. This technology is moving beyond research centres and large enterprises and becoming accessible to citizens, startups, students, farmers, and public institutions. From remote healthcare and precision agriculture to personalised learning and data-driven governance, it is helping build a smarter, more efficient, and more inclusive India.
Government-led initiatives, including the IndiaAI Mission and Centres of Excellence, are driving innovation by expanding access to high-performance computing, supporting research, and enabling startups to build solutions for public good. India’s approach prioritises technology that is open, affordable, and accessible to all, ensuring that progress benefits every section of society.
What is Artificial Intelligence?
Artificial Intelligence is a branch of technology that enables machines to perform tasks that traditionally require human thinking, such as learning, analysing information, recognising patterns, solving problems, and making decisions. These systems improve over time by processing data and adapting through experience, allowing them to interact and communicate in increasingly human-like ways.
AI for Inclusive Growth
The country’s inclusive vision is strongly reflected in NITI Aayog’s report AI for Inclusive Societal Development (October 2025), which outlines how AI can empower more than 490 million informal workers through better access to healthcare, education, skilling, and financial services. The report highlights real-life experiences of workers and illustrates how well-designed technology can boost productivity, resilience, and dignity for those forming the backbone of India’s economy.
India’s AI Landscape Today
- Technology industry revenue expected to surpass USD 280 billion this year
- Over 6 million professionals employed in the tech and AI ecosystem
- 1,800+ Global Capability Centres, including 500+ focused on AI
- Nearly 1.8 lakh startups, with 89% of new startups adopting AI tools
- On the NASSCOM AI Adoption Index, India scores 2.45/4, with 87% of enterprises using AI solutions
- Leading AI adopters: manufacturing & automotive, retail & consumer goods, BFSI, and healthcare
- 26% of Indian companies have achieved AI maturity at scale
India is also gaining global recognition. According to the Stanford Index, India ranks among the top countries in skills, talent, and policy capability. It is also the second-largest contributor to projects on GitHub, demonstrating the strength of its developer community.
IndiaAI Mission: A Strategic Leap Toward AI Leadership
Approved in March 2024 with a Rs10,371.92 crore budget, the IndiaAI Mission aims to make India a global leader in this technology by building computing infrastructure, supporting startups, enabling research, and developing responsible frameworks. The mission has already surpassed its initial target of 10,000 GPUs, reaching 38,000 GPUs, now available to developers at subsidised rates.
Seven Pillars of the IndiaAI Mission
- IndiaAI Compute – Affordable GPU access to accelerate innovation
- Application Development Initiative – Building AI solutions for healthcare, agriculture, climate resilience, governance, and learning
- AIKosh (Dataset Platform) – 3,000+ datasets and 243 AI models across 20 sectors
- IndiaAI Foundation Models – Large multimodal language models trained on Indian languages and datasets
- FutureSkills Programme – Training 13,500 scholars and establishing AI labs across Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities
- Startup Financing – Global expansion support for emerging AI startups
- Safe & Trusted AI – Responsible AI governance, auditing, privacy, and ethics
Other Major Government Initiatives
Centres of Excellence for AI
Dedicated to Healthcare, Agriculture, Sustainable Cities, and soon, Education-enabling research-industry-government collaboration.
IndiaAI Startups Global Acceleration Programme
Supporting startups to access global networks in partnership with Station F and HEC Paris.
Sarvam AI & Smarter Aadhaar Services
Building India-focused generative AI solutions in partnership with UIDAI.
A multilingual AI platform breaking language barriers and supporting 20+ Indian languages.
BharatGen AI
India’s first government-funded multilingual multimodal LLM supporting 22 languages.
India AI Impact Summit 2026
A global platform to showcase India’s AI innovation, research, and responsible intelligence leadership.
AI in Everyday Life
- Healthcare: early disease detection, teleconsultation, medical imaging analysis
- Agriculture: weather prediction, pest management, satellite-based monitoring
- Education: personalised learning, NEP-led AI curriculum, DIKSHA accessibility features
- Governance: e-courts, vernacular translation of judgments, public service chatbots
- Climate & Weather: AI-based forecasting, real-time alerts, cyclone intensity estimation
Will AI Reduce Jobs?
AI is expected to create more opportunities than it replaces. NASSCOM projects AI talent in India to grow from 6–6.5 lakh professionals to 12.5 lakh by 2027. FutureSkills PRIME has already trained more than 3.37 lakh learners, preparing the workforce for emerging roles in data science, AI engineering, analytics, and cybersecurity.
AI for Empowering India’s Informal Workforce
NITI Aayog’s roadmap proposes a four-phase implementation plan from 2025 to 2035, driven by the Digital ShramSetu Mission, which aims to deploy frontier technologies-IoT, blockchain, and immersive learning-at scale. The goal is to improve livelihoods, build digital pathways for mobility, and drive equitable economic growth.
Conclusion
India’s journey reflects urgency, innovation, and ambition. By strengthening digital infrastructure, investing in talent, enabling startups, and promoting responsible practices, the country is building an ecosystem that expands opportunity rather than concentrating it. With inclusive policies, homegrown models, and collaborative global leadership, India is well positioned to emerge as a powerful global hub and advance the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047.