From Vision to Action: Highlights from the AI for India Summit 2025
The AI4India Weekly #59
Held on June 28 at the Infosys Science Foundation, Bengaluru, the AI for India Summit 2025 brought together some of the most influential voices in India’s AI ecosystem—policy leaders, technologists, researchers, and civic innovators—to chart a course for AI made in India, for India. Organised by AI4India and CSTEP, the summit was designed as a platform not just for conversation, but for collaboration and actionable change.
From keynotes on accessibility, public service delivery, and data sovereignty, to panels on AI in governance, industry, and ecosystem building, the summit marked a defining moment in India’s journey toward inclusive, population-scale AI innovation. Below are the key takeaways from a day that inspired, challenged, and mobilised.
Welcome Address: From Potential to Purpose
Dr. Jai Asundi, Executive Director of CSTEP, opened the summit by calling for AI that “serves people and enables desired quality of life.” He expressed hope that the summit would foster collaboration and shared learning, helping stakeholders connect across sectors and disciplines to accelerate meaningful AI deployment.
Building India’s AI Ecosystem – Open Models, Open Collaboration
In the opening session of the day, Prof. Rishikesha Krishnan (Director, IIM Bangalore) and Ganesh Ramakrishnan (BharatGen) joined moderator Shashi Shekhar Vempati to unpack the building blocks of a robust AI ecosystem for India. Themes included the role of public institutions, foundational models tailored to Indian languages and contexts, and open innovation as a guiding principle.
Keynote: AI Literacy & Data Sovereignty
In his keynote, Manoj Jain, CMD of BEL, made a strong case for widespread AI/ML literacy. He emphasised that “unless the basics of AI/ML are understood across all domains and roles, its potential cannot be fully harnessed.” He also highlighted how access to high-quality, context-specific data would ultimately determine the scalability and trustworthiness of AI systems, especially in sensitive domains.
Panel Discussion on AI in Industry – From PoC to Production
Moderated by Alok Agrawal, this panel featured leaders from finance, mobility, IT, and infrastructure: Gaurav Gupta (TVS Motor), B G Mahesh (Sahamati), Sateesh Seetharamiah (EdgeVerve), Prasad Hebbar (HDFC Bank), and Sunil Gupta (Yotta). The discussion tackled the challenges of going beyond proof-of-concept to build scalable, integrated AI solutions that deliver ROI and resilience.
Keynote by Gokul Subramaniam on India’s AI Advantage
Gokul Subramaniam, President of Intel India, delivered a keynote that outlined four strategic levers where India holds global advantage: leapfrogging legacy systems, expansive reach, cost-efficient innovation, and designing at population scale. His talk offered a bold vision for how India can lead—not just participate in—the global AI transformation.
Panel Discussion on AI Diffusion – Scaling Innovation Across Sectors
Moderated by Shashi Shekhar Vempati, this panel explored how AI can move beyond pilots and prototypes into wide adoption. Gokul Subramaniam (Intel India), Parag Naik (Saankhya Labs), Prof. G.K. Ananthasuresh (IISc), Shashi Kiran (Wadhwani Foundation), and Dr. Neeta Trivedi (Inferigence Quotient) discussed infrastructure, investment, and regulation as key enablers—and blockers—of AI scale in India.
Keynote: Collaborating with Government for Scalable Impact
Shri Munish Moudgil, IAS, highlighted the need for long-term, institutional collaboration between AI developers and public sector actors. He underscored that technology alone cannot deliver results—what’s needed is sustained coordination and dialogue to integrate AI into public service delivery.
Keynote: Accessibility as a Cornerstone of AI Innovation
In a deeply personal and inspiring keynote, Mahantesh Kivadasannavar, Founder of Samarthanam Trust, shared his journey as a visually impaired individual navigating the digital world. His message was clear: “When made accessible, technology can bridge the gap between potential and opportunity.” His story served as a powerful reminder of the human impact AI can have when designed with inclusion at its core.
Panel Discussion on AI for Citizens – Designing for the Public Good
Moderated by Dr. Jai Asundi, the opening panel brought together Manish Srivastava (eGov Foundation), Jagadish Babu (EkStep), Dr. Ramanand (CPRG), Shekar Sivasubramanian (Wadhwani AI), and Dr. Sarayu Natarajan (Aapti Institute). The panelists explored how AI can be embedded into civic life—from education and governance to social protection—while keeping citizens' needs, agency, and data rights at the centre.
Fireside Chat: The Co-Intelligence Revolution
In a thought-provoking fireside conversation, authors Krishnan Narayanan and Prof. Venkat Ramaswamy introduced ideas from their new book, The Co-Intelligence Revolution. Framed around the evolving relationship between humans and intelligent systems, the discussion explored how co-intelligence—not artificial intelligence alone—will shape the future of innovation, work, and society. Their call to action: move beyond tool-centric thinking and build participatory systems that empower people through intelligence shared, not outsourced.
Open Models for India: BharatGen’s Collaborative Ecosystem
The showcase by Team BharatGen, featuring Professor Ganesh Ramakrishnan and Rishi Bal, spotlighted the team’s mission to build open, transparent, and multilingual foundational models tuned to India’s needs. Their presentation offered an in-depth look at how BharatGen is enabling an AI ecosystem rooted in collaboration—bringing together researchers, technologists, and public institutions to co-create India-relevant AI infrastructure. From language model alignment to compute challenges, the session touched on the urgent need for community-driven innovation and publicly accessible tools to unlock the next wave of AI for Bharat.
Foundational AI Showcase: Sarvam AI’s Vision for Bharat
One of the most anticipated sessions of the day was the Foundational AI Showcase by Sarvam AI, presented by co-founder Vivek Raghavan. Sarvam’s mission is to build open, Indic-first foundational models that make generative AI truly accessible and useful for Indian users. From linguistic diversity to local contexts, the showcase highlighted how Sarvam is engineering foundational models that respond to India's unique technological and societal realities.
Startup Showcase: Innovating for Bharat
The final session of the AI for India Summit 2025 brought together a vibrant group of Indian AI innovators in the Startup Showcase, offering a glimpse into how cutting-edge solutions are being built for India, by India. The lineup featured startups including AIEnsured (presented by Co-Founder & CTO Dr. Srinivas Padmanabhuni), Latlong ( by CEO - Puranika Narayana Bhatta), Paralaxiom (by CEO - Kshitij Sharma), Pienomial (by CTO - Omkar Patil), and AskJunior (by CTO - Sathish). These founders and technologists shared bold, applied solutions across healthcare, geospatial intelligence, foundational models, fintech, education, and vernacular AI. Each pitch reflected a grounded understanding of India's diversity and complexity, making a compelling case for why the next wave of globally relevant AI innovation can—and should—be rooted in Bharat.
The AI for India Summit 2025 was a collective call to move beyond siloed experimentation and towards a shared, scalable, and sovereign future for Indian AI. With participants ranging from policymakers and researchers to startups and civic innovators, the summit reaffirmed India’s readiness—not only to adopt AI but to define it on its own terms.
#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.
Join our AI4India.org forum to be a part of the AI revolution in India by visiting our site now.
Follow us on our X and LinkedIn to receive interesting updates and analysis of AI-related news