Budget 2023: Govt to set up three centres of excellence for Artificial Intelligence R&D

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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1 announced that the government will be setting up three centres of excellence for artificial intelligence (AI) to research and develop cutting-edge applications in India. This is in line with the country’s  IT industry pushing for and expecting AI-related advancement to take over technology trends in 2023.

During the Union Budget 2023, Sitharaman said that this move would help realise the vision of ‘Make AI in India, Make AI work for India.’ Some of the key focus areas to develop AI-based solutions will be agriculture, health and sustainable cities.

“Three centres of excellence for AI will be set up to realise the vision of ‘make AI in India and make AI work for India'. This will be set up in top leading educational institutions. Leading industry players will partner in conducting inter-disciplinary research, develop cutting-edge application and scalable problem solutions in the areas of agriculture, health and sustainable cities,” Sitharaman said.

She added, “This will galvanise an effective AI ecosystem and nurture quality human resources in the field.”

Rajesh Gopinathan, MD & CEO, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) called this a forward-looking move in the budget that will "fortify the digital spine of the country".

“The Union Budget 2023 by the Honourable Finance Minister further builds on the government’s focus on enhancing India's digital infrastructure and enabling growth pathways for the Indian economy. The provisions for research in artificial intelligence and 5G implementation, and the Government's vision of Make AI in India and Make AI work for India are commendable,” Gopinathan said.

According to KPMG’s global study on AI, the technology is changing the way businesses work, for instance, by improving access to medical care in the healthcare field, detecting fraud in financial institutions, improving traffic management systems in transportation, to helping companies run more efficiently in technology, to mitigating customer service issues in retail.

Purushothaman KG, Partner and Head, Digital Solutions & Telecommunications Industry Leader, KPMG in India said, "To achieve the vision of “Make AI work for India”, the COEs will need to shift focus from experimental to applied technology, take advantage of innovation in ancillary technologies around Automation and low code platforms, drive focus on upskilling and responsible AI."

"India is well poised to come up with its own thinking through these COEs and enterprises to offer AI as a service in the years to come," he added.

Not just Indian IT companies, but also global technology giants like Microsoft lately have been promoting the use of AI to bring the next phase of technology-driven economic growth in India.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, during his India visit earlier this month, had highlighted the future of AI and its use cases.

"It’s like having this co-pilot with you throughout. AI is ultimately going to accelerate human creativity, ingenuity and productivity across a range of tasks,” Nadella said.