India’s bet on AI is its youth

As the US and China capture headlines with massive projects and breakthrough models in AI, India—a tech superpower in its own right—has taken a distinctive approach by deciding to invest in its youth. 

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Union Budget included a Rs 500 crore allocation for a Centre of Excellence (CoE) focused specifically on AI for education. 

The amount may seem small to the billions being pumped in by the big powers and organisations, but it’s part of a cohesive approach that takes the long-term view and the strength of the country’s youth into consideration.

The parallel announcement of 50,000 Atal Tinkering Labs in government schools over the next five years represents an even more ambitious undertaking. These labs, designed to cultivate innovation and curiosity among young minds, create a pipeline of future AI talent starting at the school level. 

Industry experts view this comprehensive approach as addressing a critical need in India's AI ecosystem—bridging the gap between theoretical research and practical implementation in education.

Also Read

AI startups bask in funding summer as investors double down on enterprise AI adoption

Building on existing foundations

India's move into AI-focused education isn't new. According to the India Science, Technology, and Innovation Portal, the country already hosts over 20 CoEs across major cities, including Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Bhopal. These existing centres have established specialities in robotics, space sciences, and sustainability, creating a network of expertise that the new education-focused CoE can leverage.

What distinguishes these AI-dedicated labs from conventional research facilities is their collaborative structure. They function as innovation hubs where government-backed institutions, corporate research divisions, and academic experts work in concert to develop foundational models with practical applications.

Prof P J Narayanan, Director of IIIT Hyderabad and member of the IndiaAI Mission's initial programme formulation committee, offers insight into how the new CoE should function: “The CoE should serve as an independent fulcrum of activities relating to AI and education. This, in my view, should result in creating application development teams composed of AI researchers, development engineers, designers, teachers, education experts, and others."

Prof Narayanan emphasises that practical implementation must be central to the CoE's mission. He explains that the process of creating useful solutions and products out of basic research has to be the major focus. “The research translation teams have to be supported by researchers from academia. The CoE will be most effective if multiple institutions collaborate in its mission."

Corporates pitch in

The government's initiatives are finding complementary support from major tech corporations. In January, Microsoft announced a substantial $3 billion investment to expand AI and cloud computing capacity in India. This funding comes alongside the company's ADVANTA(I)GE INDIA initiative, which aims to train 10 million people in AI by 2030.

Jaspreet Bindra, CEO of tech policy think-tank AI&Beyond, views the government’s CoE announcement as timely: “If anything, it is not coming too soon for something like this to happen.” He highlights the potential impact on AI education across the country, noting, “Microsoft has already announced that 500,000 students will receive AI skilling, probably as a part of this initiative."

Domestic companies are also making significant investments in India's AI future. In February, Ola Founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal launched Krutrim AI Labs with a focus on developing AI technologies specifically designed for India. The initiative launched with an initial investment of Rs 2,000 crore is backed by a larger commitment of Rs 10,000 crore by next year.

The global context

India's strategic emphasis on education-focused AI development takes place against the backdrop of intensifying global competition. Ajai Chowdhry, one of the six founding members of HCL, contextualises the stakes clearly: "In this new unipolar world, every country is on its own, and strategic autonomy is extremely critical."

Chowdhry points to China's aggressive investments in the sector as a reason for urgency. “The impact of DeepSeek has been phenomenal, but what should worry us more is that China is investing heavily in AI, with 50 Tier II labs and nearly 10 anthropic labs, including lesser-known companies like Minimax, Quin, and Kimi.ai focusing on related technologies..."

This reality makes India's distinctive focus on education even more significant. 

A strategic, multi-phased approach

The Rs 500 crore education-focused CoE is part of a broader, methodical strategy that has been unfolding over several years. In November 2023, the Ministry of Education invited the top 100 NIRF (National Institutional Ranking Framework) ranked higher education institutions to submit proposals for 15 AI CoEs. Each selected institution received Rs 2 crore in initial funding, creating a network of research hubs across priority sectors.

In October 2024, Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan launched three specialised AI CoEs with distinct focus areas. The first, a collaboration between AIIMS and IIT Delhi, concentrates on healthcare applications, including early disease prediction, diagnostics, and pandemic tracking.

The second CoE, led by IIT Ropar, applies artificial intelligence to agricultural challenges through real-time crop monitoring, weather analysis, and farm advisory services designed to improve yields and reduce losses. The third, headed by IIT Kanpur, focuses on creating sustainable cities through enhanced urban planning and traffic management systems.

The government has allocated a total financial outlay of Rs 990 crore to implement these three CoEs over five years, from FY24 to FY28. 

Also Read

Zoho Corp's big AI thrust: SaaS major plans to roll out foundational models this year

Vision and potential

Against this backdrop, the AI Centre of Excellence specifically targeting education takes on particular significance. “While the details are not clear, the AI Centre of Excellence in Education will, and should, focus on the application of AI to enhance the delivery of education, going by the recently awarded CoEs in healthcare, agriculture, and sustainable cities,” explains Prof Narayanan.

Ankush Sachdeva, CEO of GenAI firm CoRover, outlines some of the practical applications being envisioned: “The new CoE aims to develop personalised learning models, automated assessments, and AI-powered tutoring systems by partnering with top educational institutions, research organisations, and private companies. We look forward to collaborating with the AI CoE and are proud to be a key contributor to the IndiaAI Mission."

These applications address critical challenges in India's educational landscape, where diverse regional needs, multilingual contexts, and varying resource levels create complex implementation challenges. AI-powered systems could potentially bridge these divides by creating adaptive learning experiences tailored to individual students’ needs, regardless of their location or background.

Prof Narayanan emphasises India's current standing and future potential in the global AI landscape: “India is currently ranked #4 in Global AI Power Rankings by the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI. While that is quite heartening, there is a scope to take AI activities up by several notches in India, and that should be a priority of the proposed CoE.”

Building the future workforce

The CoE's focus on education serves multiple strategic purposes. Beyond improving educational outcomes today, it prepares students to become productive participants in tomorrow's AI-driven economy. 

This workforce development aspect is overseen by an industry-heavy apex committee, co-chaired by Sridhar Vembu, who recently transitioned from CEO to Chief Scientist at SaaS major Zoho. The committee focuses on aligning R&D with rural development projects, ensuring that AI's benefits extend beyond urban centres to reach India's vast rural population.

The educational challenges that AI could help address in India are both numerous and complex. 

If successful, the CoE for AI in education could fundamentally transform how knowledge is conveyed, skills are developed, and assessment is conducted across India's educational system. Beyond improving current educational outcomes, it could establish entirely new paradigms for teaching and learning that respond dynamically to each student's needs and capabilities.

As the CoE moves from concept to implementation in the coming months, it will face significant challenges in translating research into practical applications that work in real-world educational settings. However, if it succeeds in creating truly personalised, adaptive learning experiences at scale, it could establish India as a global leader in one of AI's most transformative applications—and in the process, unlock the potential of millions of young minds across the nation.