India entering new industrial era driven by AI, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

Ashwini Vaishnaw outlines the nation's global ambi­tions in AI

As leading global chief executives, heads of state and   repr­e­se­ntatives from more than 100 countries gather for the  India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi this week, Ashwini Vaishnaw — Union Minister for Electronics & IT,  Information & Broadcasting, and Railways — outlines the nation’s global ambi­tions in AI in an email interview with Surajeet Das Gupta. Edited excerpts:

 

What is the key focus of the AI Impact Summit and what are the concrete results India hopes to achieve?

 

The summit’s focus will be on people, planet and progress. It will highlight the significance of real-world applications, AI-based services, talent development, and strong safety frameworks, so that innovation and responsibility move together.

 

The major takeaways will be on how to use AI to improve people’s lives by solving the problems of economy and society.

 

You have said India should be competitive in all the five layers. Billions of dollars are being spent in building language models and Generative AI globally. How will India negotiate this area?

 

India is on the path to become a provider of AI services in the near future. We are working on all five layers of the AI stack: applications, models, chips, infrastructure, and energy.

 

We are supporting the startups developing sovereign foundational AI models. These models are competing at global benchmarks and showing good results. Some of these will be launched during the AI Impact Summit. Industry and even the early critics of our Sarvam model are now calling it better than many popular LLMs.

 

Progress across the five layers is at different stages of maturity. India is committed to be competitive as well as collaborative in the global AI architecture.

 

Indian consumers are one of the largest users of AI. How can India leverage this advantage?

 

In India, AI applications can reach millions almost instantly, instead of pilot projects taking years to scale.

 

Our Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) acts as a ready-made, interoperable digital backbone that lowers the cost and friction of deploying AI solutions at scale.

 

Unlike many countries where data systems are fragmented, we have built standardised digital rails, such as Aadhaar, UPI, DigiLocker, ONDC, and Co-WIN.

 

This creates three major advantages: scale, speed, and trust. Our startups do not need to rebuild AI infrastructure. They can focus on delivering AI-led solutions and innovation.

 

Additionally, our vast 5G network and a young tech-savvy population will accelerate AI adoption and diffusion of new-age technology across all sections of our society.

 

Can India take leadership of the Global South in AI? To do that, what does India plan to do?

 

The Global South is seeking open, affordable, and development-focused AI solutions. India is developing AI as a tool for economic growth, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability. These nations are looking at India as a trusted AI partner.

 

We are bringing together governments, industry, academia, and startups at the AI Impact Summit, to solve real-world problems and scale successful models. The summit will be a collaboration between leading AI nations and the Global South.

 

Indian large private companies have been slow to respond and invest in AI. How are you planning to push them? Can India build global AI companies?

 

We are entering a new industrial era driven by AI. Earlier, growth came from adding more engineers. Now, growth will come from embedding intelligence directly into systems.

 

Today, global demand is for AI-enabled automation and intelligent analytics across sectors like manufacturing, telecom, finance, and logistics.

 

Indian companies possess deep domain knowledge and execution capabilities. Our firms, operating at population and infrastructure scale, are well positioned to deploy AI at scale.

 

With the complete AI stack, India will transition from being the world’s back-office to becoming a strategic AI transformation partner.

 

There are concerns that AI might lead to real job losses. What is the government assessment on this, and is there a mitigating strategy for that?

 

Our young workforce is quickly adapting to AI tools and emerging technologies. The adoption of AI and deep tech by our startups is also accelerating at a rapid pace. 

We are expanding AI education across schools and colleges. Our government is committed to building a large AI-ready workforce. We will train one million youth in AI related skills, through a network of over 570 AI and data labs being set up across India.

 

There is a lot of debate on safe AI and the world is divided on how much regulation is needed. What is India looking for in terms of regulation?

 

Ours is a techno-legal approach. We believe that AI governance should find a balance between promoting innovation and preventing misuse.

 

We have issued AI Governance Guidelines. We are also strengthening our AI Safety Institute and supporting responsible AI projects focused on safety and transparency.

 

At the same time, we are regulating dangerous applications like deepfakes and misinformation. The latest rules on synthetically generated content reflect our commitment to keeping the world safe from the harmful impacts of AI.