Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday asserted that India belongs to the first group of global AI-ready nations, contesting the International Monetary Fund’s characterisation of the country as a second-tier AI power during a high-level panel discussion at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.
Vaishnaw was speaking at the “AI Power Play” session, which examined the geopolitics, economic impact and governance challenges of artificial intelligence.
The discussion was moderated by Ian Bremmer, President of Eurasia Group, and featured IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, Microsoft President and Vice Chair Brad Smith, Saudi Arabia’s Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih, and Vaishnaw.
The panel focused on how AI is reshaping global power dynamics, productivity and policy frameworks across economies.
‘India Is Clearly In The First Group’
Responding to the IMF’s assessment, Vaishnaw said India has made systematic progress across all five layers of the AI architecture — applications, models, chips, infrastructure and energy.
“ROI does not come from creating the largest models. Nearly 95 per cent of real-world use cases can be addressed using models in the 20–50 billion parameter range,” he said.
Vaishnaw noted that India has already developed multiple efficient and cost-effective models within this range, which are being deployed across sectors to improve productivity, efficiency and technology utilisation.
Stanford Rankings Cited
Citing global benchmarks, Vaishnaw said Stanford University ranks India third in AI penetration and preparedness, and second globally in AI talent.
He emphasised that India’s AI strategy prioritises real-world deployment and return on investment rather than an excessive focus on very large models.
Democratising AI Through Scale And Access
Highlighting the government’s focus on large-scale diffusion of AI, Vaishnaw said India is democratising access to advanced AI capabilities.
To address GPU constraints, the government has empanelled 38,000 GPUs under a public-private partnership model, creating a shared national compute facility. These GPUs are subsidised by the government and made available to students, researchers and startups at nearly one-third of the global cost.
Vaishnaw also pointed to India’s nationwide AI skilling programme, which aims to train 10 million people to enable effective use of AI across the IT sector and startup ecosystem.
Techno-Legal Approach To AI Governance
On regulation, Vaishnaw stressed the need for a techno-legal framework for AI governance.
“AI governance cannot rely on law alone. We must develop technical tools to detect bias, authenticate deepfakes with court-admissible accuracy, and ensure safe deployment through mechanisms such as unlearning,” he said, adding that India is developing indigenous safeguards to address these challenges.
India’s Growing Role Recognised
Other panellists acknowledged India’s expanding role in the global AI landscape. Bremmer noted India’s emergence as a significant geopolitical and technological player over the past decade.
Participants from global institutions and industry also highlighted India’s emphasis on diffusion, accessibility and sovereign capability as a potential model for emerging economies navigating AI adoption.
