Governing AI in India: Why Strategy Must Precede Mission

Executive summary

Executive summary

India’s ability to lead in global AI development is constrained by a weak R&D base, an IT industry not yet geared toward frontier AI, and capital markets that do not prioritise long-term investment in advanced AI capabilities. Addressing these challenges requires more than programmatic initiatives — it demands coordination across multiple ministries, institutions, and stakeholders to align capabilities and investments with national strategic objectives.

A national AI strategy is essential to providing the whole-of-government coordination, cross-sector mandate, and policy stability required to drive this systemic transformation. Parliamentary engagement is equally critical: beyond its regulatory function, Parliament serves as the primary forum for building national political consensus — providing a public signal of long-term strategic intent and policy continuity across electoral cycles. For investors, researchers, and industry leaders, such consensus is vital to fostering the confidence needed to commit to India’s AI future.

India’s current approach - developing AI policy through the IndiaAI Mission under MeitY - lacks the institutional architecture required for comprehensive national transformation.

This governance gap generates three critical risks:

Governance and Strategic Coherence

The IndiaAI Mission, while significant in scope, operates as an implementation-focused initiative rather than a comprehensive national strategy.

Without a formal mandate for cross-sector coordination, India faces policy fragmentation and regulatory inconsistency. Parliamentary engagement remains ad hoc and reactive. This limits both strategic coherence and democratic legitimacy in AI governance.

Strategic and Economic Vulnerabilities

As AI becomes embedded in defense, intelligence, and critical infrastructure, technological dependencies increasingly pose risks to India’s strategic autonomy. Building indigenous capabilities across defense, research, and industry requires sustained cross-sector coordination that only a mandated national strategy can provide.

Simultaneously, AI-driven automation is already disrupting employment, with major IT services firms having shed over 65,000 positions and signalling further reductions to come. Managing these transitions demands coordinated action across education, skills development, social protection, and industrial policy — underpinned by political consensus that administrative missions alone cannot generate.

Democratic Legitimacy and Global Credibility

Public data assets are central to AI development — their curation, access, and governance must be shaped by transparent, democratic frameworks. Relying solely on administrative processes risks policy capture and diminished public trust.

India’s leadership of GPAI signals international ambition but sustainable international influence requires institutional capacity and a longterm commitment to democratic values in AI development.

The Democratic Imperative

India’s demographic dividend, digital infrastructure, and democratic institutions offer a unique opportunity to shape an AI trajectory that combines innovation with inclusion.

Realizing this potential requires more than administrative execution — it demands coherent, accountable, and democratically grounded governance.

A Cabinet-endorsed national AI strategy, formally presented to Parliament, would provide a comprehensive mandate for cross-sector coordination, democratic legitimacy for transformative policies, and political consensus that signals long-term strategic commitment to investors, researchers, and international partners.

Without such a foundation, India risks continued policy fragmentation, emerging strategic dependencies, unmanaged employment disruptions, and diminished ability to shape global AI governance in line with its democratic values.

AI governance is too consequential to be driven by narrow administrative approaches. It must be treated as a national strategic priority — grounded in democratic deliberation and political consensus — if India is to transition from a user of AI technologies to a leader in shaping an inclusive, democratically grounded AI future.

Download the full report (PDF)
← All research