AI for India: Summit Signals, Policy Shifts, and Grassroots Innovation

The AI4India Weekly #58

Jun 25, 2025

As we gear up for the AI for India Summit 2025, this week’s edition offers a glimpse into how India is shaping its AI future—through inclusive innovation, policy leadership, and grassroots impact. Beyond the summit preview, we cover India’s emerging AI regulation framework, now seen as a global model; how startups are using public data through NDAP; the quiet rise of India’s AI-driven Global Capability Centres; and how agentic AI is being adopted with care and context. We also spotlight innovations bridging rural healthcare gaps and the launch of Google’s new AI Mode, which is set to redefine search experiences for Indian users. Plus, a thoughtful conversation on AI for social good in our latest podcast episode.

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

AI for Social Good with Dr. Jai Asundi | Latest AI4India Podcast

In the latest episode of the AI4India Podcast, Dr. Jai Asundi, Executive Director of CSTEP, delves into the promise and complexity of using AI for public good. Reflecting on his journey from academia to applied policy research, Dr. Asundi discusses how CSTEP has evolved to integrate digital technologies into its work on clean energy, air quality, and climate resilience. He shares insights from CSTEP’s early experiments in applying AI to issues like child malnutrition and the institutional learnings that followed—particularly around data readiness and the importance of building ecosystems over isolated pilots.

The conversation also sets the stage for the upcoming AI4India Summit 2025, where Dr. Asundi emphasizes the vision of “Indian AI for Indian challenges.” He discusses the need for an inclusive AI ecosystem, the significance of data sovereignty through initiatives like #DataDaan, and the importance of preparing India’s research and civic communities for the future of AI.

Watch the full podcast below!

NITI Aayog Engages Startups Through NDAP Workshop

NITI Aayog recently hosted an interactive workshop to introduce startups to the National Data and Analytics Platform (NDAP)—a dynamic, user-friendly portal that brings together over 6,000 high-quality datasets from across 30 sectors of the Indian government. The session underscored a core belief: in a digital-first economy, access to reliable data is foundational to innovation, policymaking, and entrepreneurship.

Startups were guided through NDAP’s intelligent features, including advanced search tools, built-in interoperability, and seamless visualisation—all designed to reduce data friction and open new possibilities for product development and social impact. This initiative reflects NITI Aayog’s ongoing commitment to fostering a vibrant, data-driven startup ecosystem and advancing the vision of a digitally empowered Bharat.

Explore NDAP here: ndap.niti.gov.in

India’s AI Regulation: A Global Blueprint for Responsible Innovation

As artificial intelligence continues to reshape industries and daily life, India’s emerging regulatory framework is gaining recognition as a global model for responsible innovation. Positioned at the intersection of scale, ambition, and diversity, India’s approach blends ethical guardrails with economic enablement. Rather than replicating rigid or fragmented global models, the country is crafting context-aware policies that prioritise fairness, transparency, and inclusivity—while encouraging experimentation through regulatory sandboxes and innovation-friendly norms.

Rooted in the principles of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, India’s AI strategy emphasises consent-driven data use, explainability of algorithms, and safeguards against surveillance and discrimination. It also ensures that the benefits of AI extend beyond urban centres, with active support for use cases in agriculture, healthcare, education, and rural development. Engaging with international bodies like the G20 and OECD, India is aligning its standards globally while advocating for the needs of developing economies. With a balanced approach that avoids both overregulation and neglect, India is setting the tone for how democracies can harness AI for inclusive, secure, and sustainable growth.

India’s GCCs: From Back Offices to AI Powerhouses

Amid a global crunch in AI talent, India’s Global Capability Centres (GCCs) are fast emerging as strategic hubs for AI innovation rather than just operational support. With over 1,800 centres generating $64.6 billion in revenue last year, GCCs are now leading end-to-end development of scalable, enterprise-grade AI solutions—shifting from process delivery to product thinking. Companies are investing in AI-specific teams, upskilling programs, and outcome ownership, transforming these centres into accelerators of global digital transformation. Beyond technical development, they’re shaping AI governance frameworks, building privacy-first architectures aligned with India’s data laws, and contributing to open-source communities. As global firms seek speed, cost-effectiveness, and compliance in deploying AI, India’s GCCs are positioning themselves as critical engines for innovation and strategic leadership in the AI era.

India’s Steady Approach to Agentic AI

As agentic AI—systems capable of autonomous perception, reasoning, and action—gains global traction, India is taking a deliberate and pragmatic approach to its adoption. While interest is growing across sectors, especially in financial services, integration remains use-case driven, with firms exploring applications in fraud detection, wealth management, and dynamic credit assessment. Key challenges include organisational readiness, regulatory compliance, and limited understanding of the technology's capabilities. Experts emphasise a hybrid future, where AI agents handle routine tasks while humans manage risk, strategy, and relationships. With India's multilingual user base and digital infrastructure like UPI, the country is well-positioned to lead in real-time, explainable, and inclusive agentic AI—especially as firms move from narrow deployments to developing ‘super agents’ that can manage end-to-end workflows.

AI Reaches Where Doctors Rarely Do: Transforming Rural Healthcare

With nearly 63% of India’s population living in rural areas, AI is emerging as a vital bridge where healthcare systems fall short. Startups like CureBay and Remidio are addressing critical gaps by deploying AI-powered solutions that combine human touch with digital innovation. CureBay’s eClinics, staffed by trained Swasthya Mitras and equipped with AI-driven diagnostic tools, are bringing quality primary care to underserved regions in Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand. Meanwhile, Remidio’s Fundus on Phone device enables frontline workers to screen for eye diseases and other systemic conditions—entirely offline—making it ideal for rural outreach. These innovations not only improve screening and adherence but also ensure data integration with national health platforms like ABDM. As misuse of antibiotics, absence of doctors, and preventable illnesses plague rural India, AI’s role is proving to be less about replacement and more about critical reach, access, and trust.

Google’s AI Mode Debuts in India, Ushering in a New Search Experience

Google has launched ‘AI Mode’ in India, introducing a new experimental feature that enables users to ask more conversational, context-rich queries directly in Search. Powered by Gemini 2.5 and currently available in English via Google Labs, the tool allows searches that are two to three times longer than traditional queries, reflecting users’ growing comfort with natural language interactions. AI Mode merges Google’s advanced large language models with its robust information systems, drawing from the Knowledge Graph, real-time web updates, and vast shopping data to generate richer, more intuitive responses. This launch marks a major shift in how Indian users engage with search, making the experience more intelligent, personalised, and aligned with how people naturally seek information.

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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THE AI4INDIA WEEKLY

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