At the Abhay Tripathi Memorial Lecture held on July 21, 2025, India’s Electronics & IT Secretary S. Krishnan outlined how artificial intelligence is already accelerating public service delivery and supporting inclusive economic growth. He highlighted measurable improvements in grievance redressal, emerging credit tools for underserved businesses, and India’s willingness to share multilingual AI models with the Global South. His remarks shed light on a national strategy balancing innovation, scale, and ethical application of AI.
AI IN GOVERNANCE: FASTER PUBLIC SERVICES
Krishnan sir shared that AI has made public grievance handling more effective: on average, issues submitted through the Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) are being resolved 25% faster, thanks to automation and intelligent triaging. This reflects a growing trend toward data-driven digital governance that emphasizes responsiveness and accountability. He emphasized this improvement as part of India’s broader IndiaAI Mission, which promotes ethical and scalable AI in public policymaking and service delivery.
AI HELPS EXPAND CREDIT ACCESS
Low formal lending rates have long been a hurdle for micro and remote businesses. Krishnan noted that AI-powered credit scoring—leveraging data from GST and other official sources can reduce administrative risks and costs, enabling these enterprises to access loans at fairer rates. This can bridge the financial inclusion gap and stimulate local economic activity.
GLOBAL SOUTH COLLABORATION: SHARING AI MODELS
Speaking at FICCI’s Bhashantara 2025 conference on July 25, 2025, Krishnan announced India’s intent to share its AI models with the Global South countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America as part of its multi-stakeholder, inclusive AI strategy.
He remarked: “If you can do it in India, you can do it practically anywhere else in the world.”
This trajectory positions India as a counterweight to centralized AI ecosystems, advocating AI tools designed for multilingual, resource-constrained environments. It opens pathways for public, academic, and private collaboration across sectors and borders.
INFRASTRUCTURE: AI KOSH, BHASHINI & ANUVADINI
Under the IndiaAI Mission, several foundational initiatives are being scaled:
– AI Kosh: a national repository with over 400 curated datasets to support multilingual AI research and innovation.
– Mission Bhashini and Anuvadini: projects focused on capturing regional dialects and enabling language inclusivity across India’s diverse linguistic landscape.
Krishnan sir also highlighted the digitization of Ayurvedic texts and historical manuscripts, building comprehensive open datasets for global healthcare innovation and cultural research.
ETHICAL GOVERNANCE AND AI STANDARDS
Aligned with responsible AI goals, MeitY is exploring a voluntary AI code of conduct and public-sector guidelines to ensure transparency, fairness, and accountability in AI deployment.
Meanwhile, in early 2025, the government established the IndiaAI Safety Institute, intended to raise domestic AI research aligned with India’s socio-cultural context, ethics, and standards.
WORKFORCE IMPACT: LOWER RISK OF JOB DISPLACEMENT
Addressing concerns around generative AI, Krishnan noted that India’s labor market has a relatively small share of formal white-collar jobs. The risk of widespread displacement due to automation is thus less severe compared to other economies. This factor underpins a more optimistic stance toward AI adoption in public and private sectors.
VOICES FROM INDUSTRY AND ACADEMIA
Industry participants at Bhashantara emphasized three strategic areas to further India’s multilingual AI capabilities:
- Unlocking archives from institutions like Prasar Bharati and All India Radio to enrich AI training data.
- Promoting the concept of “Made in India—by India for India” to foster sovereign innovation.
- Improving inter-institutional coordination to streamline AI research and avoid duplication.
Ajay Data, Chair of FICCI’s Multilingual Internet Committee, noted that domain names are now available in all 22 official Indian languages, a key step toward digital equity, as over 6 billion people worldwide are non-English speakers. Sandeep Nulkar emphasized the urgency of building a truly multilingual internet, combining development, demographic, and economic imperatives.
INDIA’S ROLE IN GLOBAL AI GOVERNANCE
India is increasingly recognized on international platforms such as the Global Partnership on AI (GPAI) and the India–EU Trade and Technology Council, where it advocates for AI frameworks grounded in democratic values, inclusivity, and cross-border collaboration.
Efforts like BharatGen- a national multimodal foundation model scheduled for rollout by 2026, demonstrate the government’s push toward sovereign AI infrastructure shaped by India’s languages and cultural needs.
SUMMING UP INDIA’S AI VISION
India’s unfolding AI strategy reflects a vision that is innovation-driven yet ethically grounded:
– AI is delivering tangible governance benefits—in faster grievance resolution and financial inclusion.
– The country is promoting multilingual AI for global use, not just national applications.
– Institutional foundations like AI Kosh and the IndiaAI Safety Institute reinforce ethical and scalable growth.
– Collaborative frameworks bring academia, industry, and civil society together.
– India’s unique demographics and language diversity offer not only domestic strength but a model for global AI adoption in diverse, resource-limited contexts.
As India positions itself as a steward of inclusive AI, its approach may well redefine how innovation can serve development and global collaboration in the Age of AI.
References
- The Hindu, ‘AI improving efficiency in governance, says IT Secretary Krishnan’, July 21, 2025. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/abhay-tripathi-memorial-lecture-ai-improving-efficiency-in-governance-says-it-secretary-krishnan/article69837896.ece
- The Economic Times, ‘India open to sharing AI models with Global South: MeitY Secretary’, July 25, 2025. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/artificial-intelligence/india-open-to-sharing-ai-models-with-global-south-meity-secretary/articleshow/122903153.cms
- Analytics India Magazine, ‘AI is improving efficiency in governance, says IT Secretary’, July 21, 2025. https://analyticsindiamag.com/ai-news-updates/ai-is-improving-efficiency-in-governance-says-it-secretary/