India’s Rise in the AI Era: Shaping the Future as a Global Leader

India is swiftly carving out a prominent place on the global Artificial Intelligence (AI) map. With robust government support, a dynamic startup ecosystem, and a deep talent pool, the country is leveraging AI to transform its digital economy and promote inclusive, widespread development.

Government-Backed AI Momentum

At the heart of India’s AI revolution is the ambitious IndiaAI Mission, a holistic national initiative aimed at positioning the country as a leader in AI. This mission is built on several key pillars:

• IndiaAI Compute: Major investments are being made in high-performance computing infrastructure, including large-scale GPU clusters, to ensure researchers and startups have equitable access to powerful AI resources.

• IndiaAI Innovation Centre: This hub is focused on creating AI models rooted in Indian needs—such as domain-specific foundational models and large multimodal models (LMMs) that support local languages and use cases. A significant move under this initiative is selecting Sarvam AI to develop India’s own sovereign large language model (LLM) ecosystem.

• IndiaAI FutureSkills: To build a future-ready workforce, AI education is being expanded across all levels. Data and AI Labs are being established in smaller cities, and the 2025–26 Union Budget allocated ₹500 crore for a new Centre of Excellence in AI for education.

• IndiaAI Dataset Platform: A national platform is being developed to provide researchers access to rich, anonymized datasets—crucial for accelerating AI model development.

• IndiaAI Application Development: Focused on creating impactful AI solutions in sectors like healthcare, agriculture, and smart cities, this initiative aims to harness AI for large-scale societal benefit.

• Startup Support and Safe AI: The mission also emphasizes streamlined funding for deep-tech startups and the development of responsible AI governance frameworks.

Homegrown AI Models for India’s Needs

To serve the country's linguistic and cultural complexity, India is actively building indigenous AI and LLM models:

• Sovereign LLM Initiative: Under IndiaAI, Sarvam AI is developing foundational models designed from scratch for India. These models—Sarvam-Large, Sarvam-Small, and Sarvam-Edge—are tailored for advanced reasoning, real-time tasks, and deployment on edge devices, respectively. The initiative ensures full infrastructure support and scalability.

• BharatGen: Announced during the BharatGen Summit, this government-led effort is creating multimodal AI models that combine text, speech, and images. Supporting 22 Indian languages, it embodies the "AI for All" vision.

• BharatGPT: Developed by CoRover.ai with IIT Bombay, BharatGPT is a multilingual generative AI designed to engage with users in over a dozen Indian languages. A compact version, BharatGPT Mini, enables offline use on edge devices, reinforcing data sovereignty and digital access.

A Booming AI Startup Scene and Industry Adoption

India’s AI startup landscape is booming, with over 70% of startups now integrating AI into their core operations. Generative AI (GenAI) is a hotbed of innovation, attracting global and domestic investors alike. Indian businesses are also ahead of the global curve—around 80% consider AI central to their strategy.

AI Talent: India’s Strategic Advantage

India ranks highest globally in AI skill penetration, reflecting its strong emphasis on education and upskilling. Initiatives like FutureSkills PRIME are equipping the workforce with next-generation skills. Despite this, the talent demand still outpaces supply, highlighting the importance of continued investments in training and higher education.

Opportunities and Key Challenges

AI presents enormous opportunities for solving real-world problems—such as extending healthcare to rural communities, improving crop productivity, and enhancing urban infrastructure. However, India must tackle challenges like ensuring data privacy, improving digital access in remote areas, and upgrading legacy systems to handle AI workloads. Developing culturally aware, linguistically inclusive AI models is key to maximizing benefits across society.

Toward Responsible AI Governance

India is taking thoughtful steps toward building an ethical AI ecosystem. While a dedicated AI law is still in development, the government is engaging stakeholders to shape policies that prioritize accountability, transparency, and fairness. The aim is to strike the right balance between innovation and regulation.

Conclusion: A Global AI Power in the Making

India’s AI journey is marked by bold initiatives, a thriving innovation environment, and a focus on inclusivity. Through homegrown efforts like Sarvam AI’s sovereign models, BharatGen, and BharatGPT, the country is not only catching up with global leaders—it’s setting new benchmarks. As India continues to scale its AI capabilities, it is well on its way to becoming a global leader in this transformative domain, with a mission to ensure the benefits of AI reach every citizen.