NEW DELHI – India's pursuit of AI sovereignty is gaining momentum but faces significant hurdles, say industry leaders. Despite substantial funding under the government's IndiaAI Mission, achieving true technological independence in artificial intelligence will demand more than just financial support, especially as global competition intensifies and US restrictions on advanced AI technologies sharpen.
The Drive for AI Independence
The debate over whether India can build a truly sovereign AI ecosystem, or if it will remain reliant on foreign models and infrastructure, has become increasingly urgent. AI is now considered a strategic technology, on par with cybersecurity, semiconductors, and telecommunications.
Ganesh Gopalan, CEO of AI startup Gnani.ai, highlighted three critical components for developing frontier AI models: people, data, and compute. While investments are beginning to address compute infrastructure and data availability, Gopalan believes India's greatest asset lies in its talent pool. “The best opportunity in India lies in AI talent, which will be the biggest differentiator in the future,” he stated.
Gopalan also emphasized that AI sovereignty is becoming “non-negotiable” for both nations and enterprises, with initiatives like the IndiaAI Mission and the proposed Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Fund laying crucial groundwork.
Bridging the Global Gap
Despite domestic progress, industry executives acknowledge that India lags significantly behind global leaders like the United States and China. Vivek Raghavan, co-founder of Sarvam, an Indian AI startup that recently secured $234 million in funding, affirmed the necessity of this pursuit. “Even if we are lagging behind, we have to do it,” Raghavan asserted, underscoring AI's foundational role in national security, cybersecurity, and digital infrastructure.
Raghavan believes India should focus on developing models and agentic AI systems specifically tailored for Indian enterprises, government use cases, and citizen services.
Opportunities and Risks of Reliance
Suraj Amonkar, Chief AI Research Officer at Fractal, one of India's pioneering AI companies, pointed to the rapid advancements in agentic AI as both an opportunity and a risk. He noted that subsequent restrictions placed on advanced models by other nations demonstrate the critical importance of sovereignty for the most sophisticated AI systems.
Amonkar advocates for India to simultaneously pursue frontier AI research while becoming a “use-case capital,” where AI adoption scales across various industries.
The Road Ahead
While India is actively building compute capacity, funding domestic startups, and nurturing talent, experts caution that true AI sovereignty will necessitate sustained investments at a scale comparable to global competitors. Long-term commitments to indigenous models, infrastructure, and research are paramount to overcoming the formidable challenges ahead and securing India's place in the global AI landscape.