“AI will be the most transformative technology since electricity” – said Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google. India has definitely been one of the nations to have realized this early on. Under the stewardship of Central gov over past decade, umpteen initiatives like ‘National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence’ and ‘India AI Mission’ have set the stage for bolder initiatives in this space by India, including government, industries, and civil society at large.
During early 2024, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella during his India visit, spoke of a USD 500 BN ‘AI GDP’ for India by 2025 end, that will be a growth driver for the USD 5T GDP target India has set. GoI has been on top of the game in this regard, with India AI Mission leading the charge. In Mar 2024, Cabinet approved INR 10,300 Cr for this mission. Building on this momentum, Union FM Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled a series of strategic initiatives around new age technology and upskilling in her 8th consecutive budget speech on 1 February 2025, as part of Viksit Bharat 2047 roadmap.
Union budget’s focus around AI and new-age technology can be thought through across a few key areas:
Centres of Excellence for AI in Education – A new CoE in AI for education to be set up with an outlay of INR 500 CR. Online education has seen a rapid growth in India. With a revenue of roughly USD 7.57 BN in 2025, this space is set to see a phenomenal CAGR of 25.77% during 2025-29. AI can be a game-changer in this regard, with personalized learning, AR/VR-enabled modules to facilitate reach and quality of education within India and it’s hinterland a lot more.
ATAL Tinkering Labs – While inaugurating the Indian Science Congress (ISC) 2019, PM had coined a phrase that would unleash a new dimension to India’s growth trajectory. Over and above Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan, he appended ‘Jai Anusandhan’, with the overarching purpose of furthering India’s innate innovation spirit to societal good, including affordable healthcare, housing, clean tech, energy, food processing. FM has built on this by proposing 50,000 ‘Atal Tinkering Labs’ over next 5 years, where children can experiment with robotics, 3D printing, other technology to “cultivate the spirit of curiosity and innovation, and foster a scientific temper among young minds”.
Focus on IITs – In FY 2024-25, INR 10,324.5 CR was allocated to IITs, that has been notched up to INR 11,349 CR in this budget. That is a good 9.92% increase, which will augur well for research and technical education in India. Additional infrastructure in the IITs added after 2014 will facilitate quality education for 6,500 more students. This is in continuance to the focus GoI has had over last decade around enriching quality and efficacy of education at IITs, that saw initiatives like Research Parks, IMPRINT (Impacting Research and Innovation Technology) launched in Nov 2015, UAY (Uchhatar Avishkar Yojana) announced in 2015, and others.
Upskilling youth – A telling observation that came from Economic Survey was that, 53% Graduates5 and 36% Post-graduates were underemployed, below their education skills. While government has been seized of this information already and initiatives like upgrading 1000 ITIs over next 5 years were promulgated in August last year by Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), FM Sitharaman gave a further push to this by proposing 5 National Centres of Excellence for Skilling in partnership with global experts. This will likely be a game-changer in fructifying India’s vision of ‘Make in India, Make for the World’. This is augmented by FM’s proposal of earmarking INR 1,28,650.05 CR for Education ministry in 2025-26, including INR 78,572.1 CR for school education and INR 50,077.95 CR for higher education.
Cultivating research mindset – Talent seeks financial assistance many a time, else it withers away. In Budget 2018-19, Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship Scheme (PMRF Scheme) was introduced, that helps in admission for PhDs to institutes of eminence like IITs, IISc, and IISERs by granting financial aid via stipends. Giving a further fillip to this, FM announced that 10,000 new fellowships with enhanced aid will be provided over next 5 years. A sizeable portion of this could possibly aid in advancing research in new age technology like AI and Large Language Models.
Gyan Bharatam Mission – In Feb 2003, a National Mission for Manuscripts was established to preserve a priceless collection of 10 million manuscripts, that are repository of rich scripts, calligraphies, and aesthetics bearing a prolific treasure of Indian heritage. Building on the same ethos, FM Sitharaman announced ‘Gyan Bharatam Mission’ for survey, documentation, and conservation of more than 1 Crore manuscripts. The budgetary outlay, while being hiked from INR 3.5 CR to 60 CR, possibly aims at digitization of the priceless ancient records via technology and new age tools.
Eyes on Viksit Bharat
Bill Gates once famously said, “Humanity’s greatest advances are not in its discoveries but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity.” The founding tenets of Antyodaya and Integral Humanism, coupled with ‘cultural nationalism’ (as against West’s idea of nation-state) espouse the essence of what BJP brings forth, and ties closely with the ways India has applied technology to reduce inequity across multifarious facets. Right after assuming office in 2014, BJP government brought in the landmark Digital India programme on July 1st, 2015 – and there has been no looking back since.
And, FM Sitharaman’s Budget 2025 speech adds a further flair to that flourishing route towards an aspirational India’s striding march to Viksit Bharat 2047.
