"India In First Group Of AI Powers": Ashwini Vaishnaw Counters IMF Ranking At Davos

Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw pushed back strongly against remarks by International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva that placed India in a "second grouping" of AI powers, asserting that global benchmarks show the country among the top tier and that India is building capabilities across the full artificial intelligence stack.

Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on Tuesday, Vaishnaw questioned the yardstick used by the IMF chief and cited a Stanford assessment that, he said, ranks India third globally on AI preparedness. "I don't know what the IMF criteria is but Stanford places India at 3rd in the world for AI preparedness. I don't think your classification is correct," the Minister said, arguing that India should be viewed as "clearly in the first group."

Vaishnaw framed India's AI push as a multi-layered effort spanning "five layers in the AI architecture"-the application layer, model layer, chip layer, infrastructure layer and energy layer. India, he said, is "working on all the five layers" and making "very good progress" across each, a point he linked to the country's broader economic trajectory as the world's fastest-growing major economy.

Emphasising practical deployment over headline-grabbing scale, the Minister said India's comparative advantage lies in building and delivering AI applications for enterprises. "On the application layer, we will probably be the biggest supplier of services to the world," he said, describing a model where Indian firms work closely with businesses to understand operations and deliver AI-led solutions. Such application-driven adoption, he argued, is where returns are realised. "ROI doesn't come from creating a very large model," Vaishnaw said, adding that the bulk of use-cases can be addressed using models in the range of 20 to 50 billion parameters.

India, he added, is developing "a bouquet" of models of this scale that are already being deployed in multiple sectors to improve productivity and efficiency, with the government's focus firmly on ensuring that AI "diffusion" spreads widely through the economy.

The Davos comments come as New Delhi prepares to host an AI Summit next month, where India is expected to project its approach on responsible and inclusive AI, and to showcase domestic progress in talent, adoption and sectoral applications. 

Vaishnaw said India's standing is reinforced by international assessments of AI penetration, preparedness and talent. "Stanford places India as third in terms of AI penetration, in terms of AI preparedness, and in terms of AI talent... Actually on AI talent, it is number two," he said, reiterating that the "second grouping" characterisation does not reflect India's current trajectory.

With the summit approaching, the Minister's rebuttal in Davos signals India's intent to shape the global AI narrative-not as an economy forced to align behind the US or China, but as one charting its own course across the AI value chain.