India's AI push gains force amid PM's power talks with tech leaders

While numerous AI startups are emerging, other companies are integrating AI into their existing operations

As India eyes global leadership role in artificial intelligence (AI) landscape, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has held a series of meetings with top tech captains over the last few days, including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, former Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka and Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas, to turn the plans into reality.

 

Nadella, whom PM Modi met on Monday, has expressed commitment to place India as an AI-first nation and expand its services in the country. A day later, during an event in Bengaluru, Microsoft announced plans to invest $3 billion in India. The global giant also aspires to equip 10 million people with AI skills by 2030.

 

Just a few days before, on January 4, Modi met former Infosys CEO Sikka while asserting that India was committed to take lead in AI.

 

This meeting came on the heels of PM’s interaction with Aravind Srinivas, co-founder and CEO of Perplexity, where the duo discussed the application and evolution of AI.

 

According to data shared by market intelligence firm, Tracxn, there are currently 706 AI tech companies in India. These companies either provide AI as a service or infrastructure. In the last five years, based on the year-on-year trend, these firms raised nearly $2.27 billion in equity funding rounds, Tracxn shared. 

 

Last year, in March 2024, the Union Cabinet had approved a national-level IndiaAI mission with a budget outlay of Rs 10,371.92 crore. For 2024-25, the Ministry of Electronics and IT was allocated Rs 551.75 crore. The mission aims to further AI-related developments in the country.

 

Shailesh Haribhakti, the chairman of Shailesh Haribhakti Ecosystem, an AI-led productivity enhancement and sustainability firm, said, “While our GDP growth is hovering around 6-7 per cent, our tax growth is almost twice that number. The country is rapidly financialising its economy and the intelligence and information flow is extraordinary which has also led to rapid discovery of attempts at evasion.”

 

Anirudh Bhardwaj, chief technology officer at Recur Club, a debt financing marketplace, said, “With the IndiaAI mission, a lot of investment is going to get into infrastructure, computing, and research and innovation. The ease of access to computes will help fin-tech companies like us to leverage AI securely by means of local LLMs as we aim towards becoming an AI native debt marketplace.”

 

Companies including Glance, owned by ad-tech unicorn InMobi; Fractal, an AI services provider; and Krutrim, an AI startup founded by Bhavish Aggarwal, attained Unicorn status in 2020, 2022, and 2024 respectively.