India’s AI drive will power the journey to a $1 trillion digital economy: Chandrasekhar

On October 13, 2023 the government unveiled a report detailing the nation’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) programme, viewing it as a pivotal force propelling the nation towards achieving a USD 1 trillion digital economy by 2026.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of Electronics and IT, emphasised that the forthcoming National Strategy on Robotics will form an integral part of the multi-year India AI initiative.

Chandrasekhar stated that this represents a comprehensive, multi-year blueprint aimed at harnessing AI as a dynamic catalyst for the trillion-dollar digital economy. The Minister had previously outlined the government’s ambition to elevate India into a USD 1 trillion digital economy by 2026.

He underscored that in addition to bolstering the start-up ecosystem, India’s AI programme will concentrate on enhancing nationwide skill sets, fortifying computer infrastructure, among other key areas.

The report advocates for the establishment of an India data sets platform, designed to benefit domestic start-ups and researchers. It also calls for the development of GPU (graphical processing unit)-based computer infrastructure to provide the necessary resources for the creation of AI engines and models by indigenous firms.

Chandrasekhar explained, the India AI computer platform will be a collaborative effort between the public and private sectors, aimed at generating significant GPU capacity for our start-ups and researchers to refine their models. He went on to describe the India data sets as an extensive collection of anonymised data sets, which may potentially become one of the largest resources of its kind, intended for use by Indian researchers and start-ups in training their models.

Moreover, Indian AI will also lend its support to the advancement of AI chips through a partnership with the Semicon India Programme, noted Chandrasekhar.

The Ministry of Electronics and IT has also released a consultation paper on the National Strategy on Robotics, inviting public feedback until October 31 2023.