AI Reshapes Indian Sectors

Nandan Nilekani, Infosys chair and a key architect of India's digital infrastructure, believes AI will significantly transform Indian education and agriculture. He envisions AI solutions tailored for India's linguistic diversity, aiming to integrate a billion citizens into an AI-driven digital economy. Open-source AI models are developing datasets in Indian languages to power AI services across agriculture, education and healthcare.

Nilekani highlights the importance of affordable smartphone access and the use of digital public infrastructure to reach a billion Indians. The government plans an 'Open Agri Network' using AI to provide farmers with real-time agricultural insights. Nilekani also notes the growth of the Indian startup ecosystem, with successful founders reinvesting in the next generation and anticipates startups growing by 20% annually, potentially reaching one million in the next decade. He also emphasises enabling 10 million MSMEs with improved access to technology, markets and credit.

Nilekani sees India as a potential AI use-case capital, focusing on applying AI to business, society, and government, with an emphasis on affordability and accessibility. He supports language AI initiatives, such as AI4Bharat at IIT Madras, to build Indian language databases, envisioning a future where voice-based AI in local languages democratises access to information and services.