When launching the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence in October 2016, Stephen Hawking remarked, “Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, it might also be the last..” He was highlighting the potential risks tied to this groundbreaking technological advancement.
State of AI in India
The rise of AI has sparked significant transformation across various industries, prompting a group of cautious optimists to highlight the potential risks of unchecked technological progress. India has been a leader in driving AI development, with NITI Aayog's AIforAll initiative focusing on five key sectors, followed by the Digital India mission. Initiatives like IndiaAI have played a crucial role in spreading the benefits of AI throughout different industries.
In simple terms, Artificial Intelligence is a set of technologies that allow machines to mimic and potentially surpass human intelligence by sensing, analyzing, acting, and learning from data and their own operations. Understanding this basic concept opens up a world of possibilities for AI to impact various sectors.
Industry-specific focus
India has made significant strides in AI across several key industries.
Healthcare
AI is transforming healthcare by breaking down barriers to access, especially in rural India, where limited connectivity and a shortage of medical professionals pose challenges. AI-powered solutions such as diagnostics, personalized treatment plans, early pandemic detection, and imaging analysis are helping bridge these gaps. Companies like Citius Tech (backed by Bain Capital and General Atlantic), Fitpass, and Zyla Health (funded by Kae Capital) are driving advancements in health analytics and personalized care.
Agriculture
AI has the potential to revolutionize food production and address critical challenges faced by farmers, including unpredictable demand, inadequate irrigation, and inefficient use of pesticides and fertilizers. Key applications include real-time advisory to enhance crop yields, advanced pest attack detection, and predictive analytics for crop pricing. Companies like Cropin leverage satellite imagery and AI-driven weather analysis for precision farming, while Fasal provides AI-based recommendations for pest control and irrigation. Digital Green is utilizing large language models (LLMs) to process and analyze vast agricultural datasets.
Smart Mobility
AI is driving innovation in transportation through use cases such as autonomous ride-sharing fleets, semi-autonomous driver assistance features, and predictive maintenance for vehicle engines. Companies like Ather Energy offer a vertically integrated scooter production system, Sun Mobility specializes in battery-swapping solutions, and Bounce Share is improving first- and last-mile connectivity.
Retail & Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG)
Retail has been at the forefront of AI adoption, with applications like personalized recommendations, image-based product searches, and enhanced demand forecasting. Companies such as Shiprocket facilitate e-commerce shipping and fulfillment, while Bizom provides retail intelligence using advanced analytics for brands and retailers.
Manufacturing
AI is shaping the "Factory of the Future" by enhancing R&D, reducing production costs, enabling predictive maintenance, and improving quality control through vision systems and IoT-powered monitoring. Companies like Uptime AI offer cloud-based predictive maintenance solutions, while Zyod provides AI-driven apparel sourcing and manufacturing platforms.
Education & Skilling
AI is revolutionizing education by personalizing learning experiences, automating administrative tasks, and predicting student needs to reduce dropouts or recommend vocational training. Companies like Miko develop AI-powered companion robots for children, while iNurture specializes in designing industry-relevant curricula for universities.
And the impact of AI extends far beyond these sectors, continuing to drive innovation across industries.
What India brings to the table?
With a strong foundation of both established enterprises and emerging start-ups, along with a highly skilled talent pool, India has the potential to become the world's AI hub. Key areas where India can contribute through its AI expertise include:
Use Case Capital
During the Delhi leg of Microsoft’s AI tour in January this year, Satya Nadella aptly referred to India as the AI “use case capital of the world.” What stands out about India’s AI ecosystem is that it’s not merely a concept but a reality, actively transforming sectors with widespread impact. India offers a wealth of grassroots use cases in areas like rural development, agriculture, local governance, manufacturing, retail, and green energy—domains that can be leveraged by countries worldwide. The nation is uniquely positioned, where technology is seamlessly applied across both rural and urban landscapes, including smart cities. This distinctive approach enables India to showcase specialized use cases and proof of concepts for global adoption.
Primary Source for Synthetic Data
India’s diverse industrial landscape makes it an ideal hub for generating training data essential for models like LLMs and SLMs. In situations where raw data is scarce, technologists and businesses turn to synthetic data to derive valuable insights. With its growing expertise in data engineering, data science, and domain knowledge, India is well-positioned to capitalize on this burgeoning space.
Provider of AI-Ready Data
The quality of AI outputs depends directly on the quality of the underlying data. To prepare data for AI, skilled data engineers play a crucial role, and India’s large, skilled workforce makes it a prime source of AI-ready data. This can benefit both developed and developing nations across sectors like governance, sustainability, green energy, and rural empowerment.
India can strategically position itself as the global data hub by focusing on three key pillars: aligning data with specific requirements, validating and qualifying data, and ensuring data stewardship and governance. This would cement the country’s role as the world's Data nerve center.
A unified data platform across vital sectors—such as minerals, manufacturing, chemicals, utilities, and commodities—could provide a common resource for nations and governments, supporting public goods and services. Such a platform could serve as an intelligence hub for global governance.
Responsible AI Hub
A critical challenge faced globally in AI applications is the risk of bias, hallucinations, and objectionable outputs. These risks manifest in various forms, and creating a robust framework for Responsible AI is essential.
India can take the lead in building this framework, adapting it to the unique ethical considerations of different nations. By developing a foundational framework for testing and improving LLMs, India could set the standard for responsible AI globally, benefiting governments, nonprofits, civil society, and AI-using organizations.
India: The Global Hub of AI
At the recently concluded AI Action Summit in Paris, co-chaired by India and France, Prime Minister Modi highlighted how “deep inter-dependence across borders” is shaping technological priorities, emphasizing the importance of “collective global efforts to establish governance and standards that uphold shared values, manage risks, and foster trust.”
Interestingly, the principles of AI and technological advancement have roots in Bharat’s ancient culture as well. The mention of the ‘Pushpak Viman’ in the Ramayana evokes an image of what could resemble a modern private jet. Similarly, Sanjay’s ‘Divya Drishti’ granted by Krishna in the Mahabharata to observe the battlefield in real-time can be compared to contemporary satellite feeds and cameras. Moreover, the precision with which the ‘Brahmastra’ was aimed at enemy territory often draws parallels to modern GPS technology. Therefore, India's leadership in AI is not only a result of its technological expertise but also a natural extension of its rich cultural heritage.
The 2025 Budget allocated an 18.64% increase to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) compared to 2024, with INR 2000 crore designated for India’s AI mission. The government’s strong emphasis on positioning India as an AI powerhouse is clear. The real question, however, is whether the success of ‘Make in India, Make for the World’ can be mirrored in the AI domain as well.
The answer to this question could ultimately shape India’s ability to lead in the evolving geopolitical landscape in the years ahead!
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