India today stands at the threshold of a historic transformation, empowered by the strength of its digital revolution. With more than 950 million internet users, the country represents the second-largest online population in the world. Over 95 percent of India’s nearly 665,000 villages are now connected to the internet, ensuring that digital inclusion reaches deep into rural communities and bridges the urban–rural divide. Equally significant is the gender balance of India’s digital landscape, where women comprise nearly 47 percent of total users, making it one of the most inclusive digital ecosystems globally.

The scale of connectivity is matched by unparalleled data consumption and utilization. On average, every smartphone user in India consumes nearly 32 GB of data per month—among the highest levels worldwide. The Unified Payments Interface (UPI), India’s homegrown digital payments backbone, has redefined the future of finance by recording 650 million daily transactions, surpassing Visa’s 639 million daily transactions and establishing itself as the largest real-time payments system in the world. At the same time, India’s digital culture is thriving, with more than 491 million social media users shaping conversations and influencing trends, while the country’s OTT entertainment market, already serving 547 million users, is projected to grow to 650 million active users in the near future.

This vast and ever-expanding digital ecosystem is more than a story of numbers—it is a unique national asset. The depth, diversity, and democratization of datasets being generated in India every day provide the foundation for building artificial intelligence and deep technology solutions at scale. With this unparalleled data advantage, India is poised not only to transform its own economy but also to emerge as a global hub of AI innovation, where technology serves as a multiplier for inclusive growth, productivity, and competitiveness.

As Claude Smadja, former Managing Director of the World Economic Forum, has insightfully remarked, India’s unique superiority in data and big data has placed it at an inflection point, ready to accelerate technological innovation and potentially deliver the world’s next big surprise.

With its massive digital footprint, youthful talent pool, and culture of innovation, India is well positioned to manifest a better Bharat—one where AI and deep tech are harnessed to empower people, strengthen industries, and shape the future of global technology leadership.

With its abundance of data, a tech-savvy talent pool, and a robust startup culture, India is uniquely positioned to leapfrog into the next generation of artificial intelligence and quantum technologies. What is required is not just vision but also an enabling ecosystem—comprising forward-looking policies, sustainable funding channels, and an affordable research and development framework—that can convert this potential into global leadership.

India today stands at a vantage point to offer solutions across every sphere of human activity—economic, political, governance, business, industry, social development, and livelihoods. The Government of India has already taken notable steps in this direction through initiatives such as the National Quantum Mission, India AI Mission 2030 and the launch of AIKosha, an India AI compute platform and other AI initiatives on IndiaAI Mission anniversary to enable India’s AI research and innovation ecosystem. Yet, in the rapidly evolving technology landscape, speed is of the essence. Without swift execution, India risks once again lagging behind, while the rest of the world capitalizes on opportunities born out of technological and data superiority.

To secure its leadership, India must take bold and practical steps As talent is no longer restricted to metro cities,  the strategy should include establishing AI and quantum sandboxes not just in metro cities but also in tier-two cities, creating test-beds where innovators, startups, and academic researchers can experiment, validate, and scale solutions. Equally important is the formulation of adaptive policies that encourage safe and rapid deployment of AI across sectors—from healthcare and agriculture to logistics and manufacturing.

The transition to an AI-driven economy must also be inclusive. That means prioritizing training and reskilling programs, particularly for the MSME sector, which forms the backbone of India’s economy. By equipping entrepreneurs and workers with AI-ready skills, India can ensure that smaller businesses do not get left behind in the technology wave. In parallel, a national awareness campaign must be launched to address widespread fears about AI-related job losses. The narrative should highlight that while AI will automate certain processes, human intervention, creativity, judgment, and emotional intelligence will remain indispensable, and new categories of jobs will emerge in the process.

By combining speed, inclusivity, and innovation, India can convert its digital and data advantage into a defining leadership role in the global AI and quantum era—manifesting a Better Bharat and shaping a better future for the world.

Indian enterprises have made impressive strides in various AI applications rolled out by startups.  These AI startups span across sectors like healthcare, MSME-focused, analytics, finance, Agritech, infrastructure, conversational, entertainment, education, social good, and so on. 

While AI startups milieu is promising, their growth is impeded by high computing costs, inadequate funding, fragmented and inaccessibility of data, lack of a comprehensive AI regulatory framework balancing innovation, ethics, and security, unclear policies on data governance, cross-border data flows and intellectual property, slow adoption among MSMEs, and persistent fears around job losses make AI adoption politically and socially sensitive. Further, the limited digital readiness in smaller enterprises delays scaling of AI solutions beyond large corporates, and Intense competition from established global players adds pressure on Indian startups to innovate rapidly while navigating local ecosystem challenges.

Towards Indigenous Base Models for India

At present, much of India’s AI development rests on foreign base models and digital platforms. This dependency restricts India’s ability to shape the direction of technological innovation in line with its own priorities. The need of the hour is to develop indigenous foundational AI platforms—large-scale systems built and trained with Indian data, designed around local requirements, and governed by national interests.

By owning such foundational capacity, India would not only reduce strategic vulnerabilities but also gain the autonomy to set ethical, economic, and security benchmarks that resonate with its developmental goals. The shift from dependence on imported base models to the creation of “Made in India” foundation models is not merely a technological ambition—it is a strategic, economic, and societal imperative.

For a nation with unparalleled data diversity, a vast digital footprint, and one of the world’s largest pools of digital talent, the natural progression is clear: to shape an AI future designed for Bharat, powered by Bharat, and shared with the world.

India has not yet produced global brands on par with the West, but it is uniquely positioned to give the world AI solutions across sectors—agriculture, healthcare, education, manufacturing, and governance—and to lead the charge into Industry 4.0. By quickly leveraging its data superiority, digital inclusion, and demographic advantage, India can manifest a better Bharat with AI, and in doing so, contribute to building a better world for all.