Budget 2026: Build India's AI future

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There is the need for a comprehensive national AI strategy to leverage India's talent and data, positioning the nation as a global AI leader. The finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman could look at announcing such a strategy in the Union Budget 2026 to drive innovation, economic growth, and address pressing socio-economic challenges through strategic AI development.

As the world's fastest-growing major economy with the largest population, India has a significant and unique stake in the unfolding AI revolution, possessing both the talent pool and the immense data scale necessary to become a global leader.

A proactive and coordinated national approach to AI development is crucial. This will not only position India at the forefront of this transformative technology but also ensure equitable access, foster responsible innovation, and address some of the nation's most pressing socio-economic challenges.

Government-enabled funds and budgetary grants for the development and implementation of AI-driven manufacturing solutions (e.g., advanced robotics for intricate assembly, AI-powered predictive maintenance for machinery, automated quality control systems, and supply chain optimization) are essential to seamlessly integrate artificial intelligence into the manufacturing domain and building India's AI future from the factory floor up.

Create India Stack of AI

Building upon the foundational success of the existing Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) such as Aadhaar, UPI, and DigiLocker, India must develop an "India Stack of AI." This superstructure would provide open, interoperable, and standardized datasets, models, and APIs, fostering a vibrant ecosystem for AI development and deployment.

This framework will accelerate innovation by democratizing access to AI capabilities for startups, researchers, and government agencies, while also ensuring data privacy and security through robust governance.

Fund Moonshot Projects

To push the boundaries of AI innovation, the government should initiate and fund ambitious "moonshot projects" through specialized, interdisciplinary teams. These projects would focus on solving big, audacious problems unique to India's context, such as AI-powered solutions for personalized education at scale, precision agriculture tailored to diverse climates, or advanced healthcare diagnostics for remote areas.

Such initiatives encourage high-risk, high-reward research, leading to breakthrough discoveries and the development of cutting-edge AI technologies that can yield significant societal and economic benefits.

Develop Shared Infrastructure

Establishing common computing and related infrastructure is paramount for widespread AI development and deployment. This includes investing in high-performance computing clusters, specialized AI hardware like GPUs, large-scale secure data lakes, and accessible repositories of pre-trained models and datasets.

By providing shared access to these expensive and critical resources, India can significantly lower the barrier to entry for AI innovation, enabling a wider range of businesses and researchers to develop, train, and deploy sophisticated AI applications.

This multi-pronged approach will foster a dynamic ecosystem of innovation, attract global investment, and create millions of jobs, ultimately transforming key sectors from healthcare and education to agriculture and urban planning, and cementing India’s leadership in the digital economy.