While launching the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence in October 2016, Stephen Hawking said, “Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, it might also be the last..” He was referring to the risks associated with this pathbreaking technological advancement.
State of AI in India
Indeed, the rise of AI has seen tectonic transformation being envisaged across industries while allowing for a section of cautious optimists calling out possible risks associated with the unchecked advancement of this technology. India has been at the forefront of advancing AI, with NITI Aayog’s AIforAll initiative and its focus on 5 key sectors doing the groundwork, followed by the Digital India mission. IndiaAI and other initiatives have been instrumental in proliferating the benefits of AI across industries.
For the uninitiated, and in simple parlance, Artificial Intelligence is a constellation of technologies that enable machines to emulate and possibly outdo human intelligence, by way of sensing, analyzing, acting, and learning from data and its own workflows. Just by comprehending this basic definition can make us wonder of the endless possibilities AI can have across sectors.
Sectoral focus
India has witnessed appreciable progress in AI within a few key industries.
Healthcare
The application of AI in healthcare can help address issues of high barriers to access to healthcare facilities, particularly in rural areas of India that suffer from poor connectivity and limited supply of healthcare professionals. This can be achieved through the implementation of Use Cases such as AI-driven diagnostics, personalized treatment, early identification of potential pandemics, and imaging diagnostics, among others. Firms like Citius Tech funded by Bain Capital and General Atlantic, Fitpass, Zyla Health funded by Kae Capital are already pushing boundaries around health analytics and personalized care management.
Agriculture
AI holds the promise of driving a food revolution and meeting the increased demand for food. It also has the potential to address challenges that many farmers face such as inadequate demand prediction, lack of assured irrigation, and overuse/misuse of pesticides and fertilizers. Some prominent Use Cases include improvement in crop yield through real time advisory, advanced detection of pest attacks, and prediction of crop prices to inform sowing practices. Firms like Cropin are providing precision agriculture services based on satellite imagery, weather patterns, and AI-powered analyses. Fasal is building AI-powered recommendations around pest control and irrigation needs, while firms like Digital Green are using LLMs to organize large volumes of data and analyze insights therefrom.
Smart Mobility
Pertinent Use Cases include autonomous fleets for ride-sharing, semi-autonomous features such as driver assist, and predictive engine monitoring and maintenance. Companies like Ather Energy provide a vertically integrated system of production for scooters. Firms like Sun Mobility are catering to battery-swapping solutions, while startups like Bounce Share are addressing first and last-mile connectivity.
Retail and CPG
Retail has been one of the early adopters of AI, with personalized recommendations, image-based product search, improved demand forecasting and lot many Use Cases being top of the mind for many Retailers. Companies like Shiprocket provide e-commerce shipping and fulfilment platforms, while firms like Bizom provide retail intelligence using proprietary analytics engines to brands and retailers.
Manufacturing
‘Factory of the Future’ can be aided using AI, which encompasses engineering (R&D efforts), production (cost reduction), preemptive maintenance, quality control (vision systems and other IoT devices for sensing issues), and a lot more. Companies like Uptime AI are providing cloud-based predictive maintenance solutions, while firms like Zyod provide apparel sourcing and manufacturing platforms.
Education and skilling
Potential use cases include augmenting and enhancing the learning experience through personalized learning, automating and expediting administrative tasks, and predicting the need for student intervention to reduce dropouts or recommend vocational training. Firms like Miko are providing AI-powered companion robots for children, while companies like iNurture provide curriculum design solutions for job-oriented courses to universities.
And the list of sectors goes on.
What India has to offer
With such a rich base of companies, both established as well as start-ups and an expert talent pool, India can be the AI factory of the world. Key areas that India can contribute to in terms of AI skill base:
Use Case capital
During his Delhi leg of Microsoft’s AI tour in January of this year, Satya Nadella rightly called out India as the AI “use case capital of the world”. The good part of the Indian AI ecosystem is, that it is not just being theorized but put into action with massive diffusion and impact. India can provide a repertoire of grassroots Use Cases across rural development, agriculture, local governance, and sectors like Manufacturing, Retail, and Green energy – that can be leveraged by nations abroad. The country is in a unique spot where technology is being made fungible across rural and urban development, including smart cities. This uniqueness lends the nation to manifest a set of niche Use Cases and Proofs of Concept (POCs) for the world.
Primary Source for Synthetic Data
India has a rich base of industries across the spectrum, which makes it a good harvest spot for training data, that are crucial for models including LLMs and SLMs. Wherever raw data is unavailable, technologists and business persons leverage Synthetic data to get requisite insights. In fact, the growing boom in this space is something India can leverage, given the remarkable base of data engineers, data scientists, and domain experts present in the country.
Provider of AI-ready Data
AI outputs are as good as the quality of underlying data. To make data AI-ready, data engineers play a crucial role. India has a huge and skilled talent pool here, and the nation can be a source of AI-ready data for industries and governments alike. While sectors across developed and developing nations can benefit alike, data on governance, sustainability, green energy, and rural empowerment can come to the aid of governments across other nations.
Alignment of data as per requirements, validation and qualification of the data, followed by data stewardship and governance are 3 pillars that India can strategically bet around being the Data nerve centre of the world.
This can also encompass a Common Data Platform across key sectors, like minerals, manufacturing, chemicals, utilities, commodities, and others that are used by nations and governments for providing public goods and public services. A unified intelligence platform to glean insights, around data that are consumed by all nations alike, could augur well for governance.
Responsible AI Hub
A key challenge that industries and governments the world over are facing around AI applications is the propensity around bias, hallucinations, objectionable outputs, and so on. The risks come in many forms.
Building a robust framework around Responsible AI is something India can take the lead on. This framework can be modified basis individual nations and their priorities around ethics. The base framework to test and improve LLMs can be built from India, for the world (including governments, non-profits, civil society forums using AI, etc.) at large.
India as AI Capital of the World
In the recently concluded AI Action Summit in Paris, co-chaired by India and France, PM Modi talked about “deep inter-dependence across borders” shaping technological imperatives, thereby necessitating the “need for collective global efforts to establish governance and standards that uphold our shared values, address risks, and build trust”.
The tenets of AI and technological prowess have surprisingly been imbued within Bharat’s ancient culture too. It is fascinating when one reads about ‘Pushpak Viman’ in Ramayana – reminding us of a possible state-of-the-art private jet. Or when Sanjay in Mahabharata was given ‘Divya Drishti’ by Krishna to ‘see’ the battlefield live, hinting at a setup involving present-day cameras and satellite feeds. The famed ‘Brahmastra’ getting dropped precisely on enemy territory has oft been compared to modern-day GPS. Thus, India’s leadership in AI stems from not just her technological prowess, but a natural progression of a cultural legacy.
Budget 2025 saw an 18.64% increase in budgetary allocation for MeiTY over 2024. India’s AI mission saw an allocation of INR 2000 CR. Central Gov’s focus on making India an AI powerhouse is clearly evident. The question remains – Can the success of ‘Make in India, Make for the World’ be replicated in the firmament of AI too?
The answer to that might as well determine if India can lead the charge of a neo-geopolitical world order in the years to come!
