India and the AI ace: A strategic play

Under the mission, India has launched initiatives addressing various aspects of the Innovation landscape, from infrastructural capacity building to spurring innovation. India has allocated approximately 10,300 rupees under this mission over the coming five years. A major focus of the mission is to build high-end common computing facilities equipped with 18,693 Graphics Processing Units.

To ensure access to abundant computing architecture, the Government has introduced an open GPU marketplace, enabling startups, researchers, and students to access high-performing computing architecture. Although the Indian government is making strides in fostering AI investments, the private sector's contribution is comparatively weak, a conclusion supported by India's ranking within the Stanford AI Index report. India ranked 8th in AI private investment, attracting $1.39 billion in 2023, compared to $67.22 billion in the US and $7.76 billion in China.

Regarding AI concentration, India remains behind Israel and Singapore despite its talent pool growing by 263% since 2016. While India’s AI startup ecosystem is expanding, ranking 8th globally with 45 new AI start-ups in 2023, it still trails established innovation hubs.

Till now, India’s focus has been heavily focused on catching up rather than pioneering innovation. While countries like the US and China invest heavily in fundamental AI research, India’s AI ecosystem is dominated by service-based applications rather than groundbreaking AI model development.