In furtherance to the vision of Making AI in India and Making AI Work for India, the Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the comprehensive national-level IndiaAI mission with a budget outlay of Rs.10,371.92 crore.
This substantial financial infusion, slated over the next five years, is poised to catalyse various components of the IndiaAI Mission, including pivotal initiatives like the IndiaAI Compute Capacity, IndiaAI Innovation Centre (IAIC), IndiaAI Datasets Platform, IndiaAI Application Development Initiative, IndiaAI FutureSkills, IndiaAI Startup Financing, and Safe & Trusted AI.
The overarching aim of this financial outlay is to ensure a structured implementation of the IndiaAI Mission through a public-private partnership model aimed at nurturing India’s AI innovation ecosystem.
Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, “AI is going to be the kinetic enabler for India’s digital economy. Prime Minister Modi ji has always said that India is going to fully exploit the power of AI for the benefit of its citizens and for the expansion of its economy. I am grateful and thankful to the Hon’ble PM for the approval of more than 10,000 crores for the India AI program, which will catalyze India’s AI ecosystem and position it as a force shaping the future of AI for India and for the world. This will benefit states like Kerala which, for years, missed the bus in creating a robust tech ecosystem. There is immense potential among Young Indians in Kerala and with this financial outlay will help realise their ambitions.”
The IndiaAI mission will establish a comprehensive ecosystem catalyzing AI innovation through strategic programs and partnerships across the public and private sectors. By democratizing computing access, improving data quality, developing indigenous AI capabilities, attracting top AI talent, enabling industry collaboration, providing startup risk capital, ensuring socially impactful AI projects and bolstering ethical AI, it will drive responsible, inclusive growth of India’s AI ecosystem.
The Mission will be implemented by ‘IndiaAI’ Independent Business Division (IBD) under Digital India Corporation (DIC) and has the following components:
1. IndiaAI Compute Capacity: The IndiaAI compute pillar will build a high-end scalable AI computing ecosystem to cater to the increasing demands from India’s rapidly expanding AI start-ups and research ecosystem. The ecosystem will comprise AI compute infrastructure of 10,000 or more Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), built through public-private partnership. Further, an AI marketplace will be designed to offer AI as a service and pre-trained models to AI innovators. It will act as a one-stop solution for resources critical for AI innovation.
2. IndiaAI Innovation Centre: The IndiaAI Innovation Centre will undertake the development and deployment of indigenous Large Multimodal Models (LMMs) and domain-specific foundational models in critical sectors.
3. IndiaAI Datasets Platform – The IndiaAI Datasets Platform will streamline access to quality non-personal datasets for AI Innovation. A unified data platform will be developed to provide a one-stop solution for seamless access to non-personal datasets to Indian Startups and Researchers.
4. IndiaAI Application Development Initiative – The IndiaAI Application Development Initiative will promote the AI applications in critical sectors for the problem statements sourced from Central Ministries, State Departments, and other institutions. The initiative will focus on developing/scaling/promoting adoption of impactful AI solutions with potential for catalyzing large scale socio-economic transformation.
5. IndiaAI FutureSkills – IndiaAI FutureSkills is conceptualized to mitigate barriers to entry into AI programs and will increase AI courses in undergraduate, masters-level, and Ph.D. programs. Further, Data and AI Labs will be set-up in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities across India to impart foundational level courses.
6. IndiaAI Startup Financing: The IndiaAI Startup Financing pillar is conceptualized to support and accelerate deep-tech AI startups and provide them streamlined access to funding to enable futuristic AI Projects.
7. Safe & Trusted AI – Recognizing the need for adequate guardrails to advance the responsible development, deployment, and adoption of AI, the Safe & Trusted AI pillar will enable the implementation of Responsible AI projects including the development of indigenous tools and frameworks, self-assessment checklists for innovators, and other guidelines and governance frameworks.
The approved IndiaAI Mission will propel innovation and build domestic capacities to ensure the tech sovereignty of India. It will also create highly skilled employment opportunities to harness the demographic dividend of the country. IndiaAI Mission will help India demonstrate to the world how this transformative technology can be used for social good and enhance its global competitiveness.
