AI for India, By India - From the AI for India Summit 2025 to the Co-Intelligence revolution & More
The AI4India Weekly #57
As the AI for India Summit 2025 approaches, this edition of the newsletter brings you a quick preview of the event’s headline sessions—from keynotes by leaders at BEL, Intel, and IIM Bangalore to conversations on AI for citizens and industry. But the spotlight this week is also on how AI is taking root across sectors. We dive into the latest episode of the AI4India Podcast, where Prof. Venkat Ramaswamy and Krishnan Narayan unpack their idea of co-intelligence—a new way of thinking about human-AI collaboration. Plus, we cover how AI is accelerating drug approvals, transforming classrooms, powering vertical SaaS, and redefining enterprise workflows through tools like Agent Bricks. We close with a must-read take on why Bhashini, India’s language AI platform, is not chasing global competition—but leading a new kind of open, inclusive innovation.
Countdown Begins: AI for India Summit 2025
India’s most dynamic AI summit is here. The AI for India Summit 2025 is set to bring together visionaries, technologists, policymakers, and industry leaders to shape the future of artificial intelligence in India. The summit will open with a powerful keynote address by Manoj Jain, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL), reflecting India’s vision for secure, sovereign and scalable AI. One of the most anticipated segments is a Special Conversation between Prashant Prakash, Padma Shri awardee and Partner at Accel, and Prof. Rishikesha T Krishnan, Director of IIM Bangalore. Their conversation will explore the critical intersection of entrepreneurship, academia and policy in driving inclusive AI innovation for Bharat.
The summit will also feature keynote addresses from leading voices in the ecosystem including Gokul Subramanian, President of Intel India; Munish Moudgil, senior IAS officer with the Government of Karnataka, and Dr Mahantesh G.K., Founder of the Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled. Three power-packed panel discussions will follow: one on AI in Industry featuring top corporate leaders, another on AI Diffusion with experts and innovators from India’s AI ecosystem, and a third on AI for Citizens, spotlighting how AI is being used to improve governance and public service delivery. In addition to these conversations, the summit will host live presentations by India’s leading foundational model teams, showcase cutting-edge products from AI startups across sectors, and explore how homegrown solutions are solving real-world problems at scale. The summit will also feature a thought-provoking chat with the authors of The Co-Intelligence Revolution - Krishnan Narayanan and Prof Venkat Ramaswamy, delving into the evolving relationship between humans and intelligent systems, and what it means for India’s AI future.
For more details, visit https://www.ai4india.org/events
The Co-Intelligence Revolution | Latest Episode of the AI4India Podcast
In the latest episode of the AI4India Podcast, we sit down with Prof. Venkat Ramaswamy (Ross School of Business, University of Michigan) and Krishnan Narayan (Co-founder, Itihaasa Research) to explore the emerging idea of co-intelligence—a creative, collaborative relationship between humans and AI. Drawing on insights from their newly released book The Co-Intelligence Revolution, the duo walk us through a 25-year evolution of ideas around co-creation, starting from their early work with C.K. Prahalad to the explosion of generative AI tools like ChatGPT. They illustrate how tools built with India in mind—like Jugalbandi, which uses ChatGPT, Bhashini, and WhatsApp to help rural citizens access welfare schemes—are already redefining what it means to co-create experiences in the age of AI.
The conversation ranges from how AI can enable “creative experiencers” across industries to how schools and enterprises must embrace new mindsets, literacies, and risks. As they explain, co-intelligence is not just about using AI tools but building dynamic feedback loops where human values, lived experiences, and intelligent systems converge to create something new. With timely reflections on responsible use, education, and knowledge environments, this episode is a must-listen for anyone curious about the future of human-AI collaboration.
Watch the full podcast below!
India’s AI Market Set to Triple by 2027
India’s AI market is on an extraordinary growth trajectory and is projected to triple to $17 billion by 2027, according to a new report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). This growth is driven by a combination of public sector initiatives, corporate investment, startup innovation, and policy shifts that prioritise digital transformation. The report outlines how sectors like manufacturing, healthcare, agriculture, and governance are being transformed by AI adoption, with India uniquely positioned to build frugal, scalable, and socially impactful AI solutions. With expanding cloud and compute infrastructure, increasing availability of public datasets, and a surge in domestic foundational models, India’s AI ecosystem is entering a phase of accelerated maturity. This also signals a growing demand for skilled AI professionals and a push for public-private-academic partnerships to build both technological and ethical guardrails.
AI is Reshaping Drug Discovery and Approval in India
AI is now a key enabler in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors, where it is accelerating the traditionally long and complex process of drug discovery and approvals. Indian companies and regulators are beginning to adopt AI-driven platforms that can simulate clinical trials, flag anomalies in real time, and even predict patient responses, dramatically reducing the time-to-market for life-saving drugs. This is not only improving medical efficiency but also democratising access to advanced treatment by reducing costs. As global health tech giants and Indian biotech firms invest in AI tools to fast-track research, India’s regulatory bodies are also beginning to integrate AI for streamlining drug approval processes, creating a more transparent, data-driven framework. This shift has the potential to establish India as both a hub for ethical health innovation and a leader in accessible medical AI infrastructure.
Building Human-Centred AI for India’s Classrooms
As India’s classrooms go digital, there is growing consensus on the need to embed responsible and human-centred AI in educational technology. A recent policy-led push is shaping AI tools to be inclusive, accessible, and sensitive to India’s linguistic and socio-economic diversity. From adaptive learning apps in vernacular languages to real-time tutoring tools that respond to student emotions and attention levels, the next wave of EdTech in India is being designed for scale and empathy. Government initiatives, particularly under IndiaAI, are supporting research and pilots in public schools to test these technologies with meaningful safeguards. This vision for responsible AI in education not only aims to improve learning outcomes but also reduce digital divides by ensuring AI tools do not reinforce existing inequalities. The result is a bold shift towards EdTech systems that empower students and teachers alike, instead of replacing them.
India’s GenAI Moment Hinges on Vertical SaaS
India’s GenAI wave is evolving rapidly—but its real success, according to experts and entrepreneurs, lies in vertical SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) applications tailored for specific industries and use-cases. Unlike general-purpose chatbots or models, vertical SaaS in sectors like logistics, finance, agriculture, and retail are creating high-value, domain-specific tools that blend AI with deep operational knowledge. Indian startups are leveraging this approach to deliver focused solutions that large models often overlook—whether it’s a warehouse operations assistant that speaks in Hinglish or a compliance advisor built for regional MSMEs. With Indian developers now building on top of open-source foundational models and fine-tuning them for hyper-local needs, this approach is also more cost-effective and adaptable. As funding and support grow for sector-focused AI, vertical SaaS may be the foundation on which India’s GenAI economy is truly built.
Enterprise-Ready AI Agents Are Here
Databricks has recently introduced Agent Bricks, a platform that helps enterprises build production-grade AI agents powered by their proprietary data. This is a major development in making AI usable not just in labs but at scale in corporate environments. These agents are designed to integrate seamlessly into enterprise workflows, with built-in features for retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), prompt optimization, and tool usage orchestration. Indian IT services companies and enterprise product startups are already experimenting with such frameworks to automate knowledge management, customer service, and business analytics for their clients. As AI adoption deepens across India Inc., tools like Agent Bricks are lowering the entry barrier and accelerating the transition from AI pilots to full-fledged deployments. The growing focus is on ensuring enterprise AI agents are not only intelligent but also transparent, secure, and compliant with India’s evolving data protection laws.
Why Bhashini Isn’t Competing—It’s Collaborating
In a thoughtful analysis of India’s language AI strategy, a recent feature on Analytics India Magazine unpacks why Bhashini, the national language translation platform, is not trying to compete with OpenAI or Indian GenAI startups—but rather complement them. Bhashini’s mission is to create open, accessible digital public goods that enable seamless communication across India’s 22 official languages and beyond. Instead of developing a single powerful LLM, it supports interoperability, data sharing, and ecosystem development by encouraging startups, researchers, and governments to build on its infrastructure. This approach aligns with India’s broader vision of AI as a public good—where language access is foundational to inclusion and empowerment. Rather than measuring success in benchmark scores, Bhashini is redefining AI success in India on the basis of reach, usability, and community participation.
#DataDaan - Donate for a Digital India
Aligned with the IndiaAI Mission and MeitY’s efforts to ensure the availability of AI-usable data, the #DataDaan campaign by AI4India is now live on DataDaan.org. This initiative invites individuals and organizations to contribute valuable datasets, enriching India’s AI ecosystem and driving innovation across sectors. The platform provides a streamlined process for data contribution, ensuring responsible and impactful AI development. Visit DataDaan.org to explore the initiative and be part of this transformative effort.
NOTE: The views expressed by the authors are their own. AI4India as a forum does not endorse any comments on specific brands, products, platforms or companies.
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