"Over $200 Billion In AI-Related Investment In 2 Years": Ashwini Vaishnaw

Union Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw expects India to attract over US$200 billion in Artificial Intelligence and data infrastructure-related investments over the two years.

Of this amount US$70 billion has been committed and a further US$90 billion announced, with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's 21-year tax holiday - for companies providing cloud services by setting up data centres in the country - expected to provide a big boost.

Speaking to NDTV against the backdrop of the five-day India AI Impact Summit in Delhi, he said India stands in a strong position in terms of capabilities across all five layers of the AI stack, starting with physical hardware to run AI solutions and software to end-use applications.

Vaishnaw told NDTV India is seen as a "trusted AI partner" for countries in the Global South because of open, affordable, and development-focused solutions. The minister cited Stanford University's 2025 Global AI Index to make his point; India is ranked third when it comes to AI.

India is also leveraging its strength in the IT sector, the minister said, noting that the government is working closely with the private sector to upskill and/or reskill the workforce. Efforts are also on to update academic courses so young people stay aligned with evolving tech needs, he said.

India opened the high-profile AI summit, which has tech leaders, policymakers, startup founders, and industry experts as the country pushes for broader global access to AI tech.

For India the summit is an opportunity to showcase its deep pool of tech savvy, engineering talent while also advancing its call to democratise AI for the Global South.

India is expected to seek global consensus on creating a 'global AI commons' which is a shared repository of AI-use cases across critical sectors that can be accessed by countries worldwide.