India needs it, India is ready for it, India will do it: Nandan Nilekani, Tanuj Bhojwani on country's AI potential

The duo believe that with a young working population, favourable policies, and growing infrastructure investments, India is the “only country poised to match the scale of China.”

The demographic dividend further tips the scales in India's favour. Boasting a population of 1.4 billion, the country resembles more of a continent than a nation, they said.

“With 1.4 billion people, India is closer to a continent than a country. Its population is almost twice that of Europe. But the average age in India is 28, compared with Europe’s 44, which means a higher share of the population is of working age,” Nilekani and Bhojwani said.

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Nilekani and Bhojwani said that what distinguishes India from the West is its unique set of challenges. “India’s diverse population and complex socioeconomic concerns mean that AI is not just about developing cutting-edge technology. It's about finding innovative solutions to address pressing problems in health care, education, agriculture, and sustainability,” they said.

They also highlighted one of India’s major hurdles—its linguistic diversity. With 19,500 recognised dialects, language barriers also pose several challenges.

“This language barrier is complicated by the fact that the official literacy rate in the country hovers near 77 percent, varying vastly between states. This means that roughly 1 in 4 people can’t read or write,” they said.

Nilekani and Bhojwani said that this complexity is further compounded by varying literacy rates across states, posing a significant distribution challenge for government welfare programmes.

However, Nilekani and Bhojwani believe that AI can be the bridge to overcome these challenges.

“AI enables people to access services directly with their voice using natural language, empowering them to help themselves,” they said.

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"The rest of the world has been eyeing AI with curiosity, waiting for real-use cases. In India, we see potential today," they added.

“India is ready for it”

Nilekani and Bhojwani assert that India is not only in need of AI, but is also ready for it.

Referring to data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, they highlighted that India's population is not only young but also well-connected, boasting over 790 million mobile broadband users.

They also emphasised the success of the country's digital public infrastructure, including the Aadhaar system and the Unified Payments Interface, emphasising India's readiness for AI adoption.

Nilekani and Bhojwani believe that India’s unique advantage lies in building AI-first systems from scratch, unburdened by legacy systems. “Unlike Western countries, which have legacy systems to overhaul, India’s tabula rasa means that AI-first systems can be built from the ground up. The quick adoption of digital public infrastructure is the bedrock for these technologies,” they said.

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They further said that "such infrastructure generates enormous amounts of data, and thanks to India’s Account Aggregator framework, the data remain under the citizens' control, further encouraging public trust and utilisation."

“India will do it”

Backing up their outlook, Nilekani and Bhojwani point to recent initiatives like the PM-Kisan chatbot, launched by the government in collaboration with Bengaluru-based EkStep Foundation. This AI chatbot helps farmers access the direct benefit transfer programme, showcasing the early adoption of new technology by the government. The chatbot is also bridging the language barrier in accessing government schemes, as it is available in English, Hindi, Bengali, Odia, and Tamil with plans to expand it to all 22 languages of the country.

Nilekani and Bhojwani said that this trend extends well beyond the government.

“India's vibrant tech ecosystem has taken off as well, a direct offshoot of its booming IT exports—currently at nearly $250 billion a year,” they said.

“This sector not only innovates but also widely adopts digital public infrastructure. The effect is cyclical: start-ups feed the growing tech culture and, in turn, leverage the data to build more precise and beneficial AI tools. India’s dynamic start-up ecosystem, moreover, is actively working on AI solutions to address various challenges,” they added.

The duo also pointed out the potential for AI in education, closing the literacy gap, and transforming administrative tasks.

"As AI takes over routine tasks in government and startups, the roles of teachers and students evolve, and they form dynamic partnerships focused on deep learning and meaningful human interaction," they said.

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Nilekani and Bhojwani stress the importance of a strategic plan focused on solving real-world problems rather than fixating on the technology itself.

"The trick is not to look too hard at the technology but to look at the problems people face that existing technology has been unable to solve," they said.