Economic Survey 2025-26: What the Survey says on evolution of AI in India and the way forward

The economic survey for 2025 was tabled today in parliament by the finance minister on Thursday. The comprehensive report of 739 pages highlights India’s growth story amidst the backdrop of external headwinds. The report highlights India’s developments and challenges across different sectors and areas, from agriculture to Artificial Intelligence.

Here is a deep dive into what the economic survey report highlights on India’s evolution in Artificial Intelligence.

The Chapter highlights India’s strategy in a rapidly evolving technological environment with persistent uncertainty. The chapter on ecosystem of AI in India and the way forward argues that India’s AI strategy should be grounded with its economic realities, rather than attempting to replicate unsustainable models adopted in advanced economies.

Unlike the capital abundant economies in the west, India holds constraint related to capital, computing capacity, energy and infrastructure. Considering the limitations on energy and scalability, India’s goal should be to make development in AI in an open an interoperable manner, which will cultivate the culture of innovation with collaboration in AI space.

The chapter also argues, how a bottom-up approach, which is multi-sector specific under a single vision, could yield high dividends in the future. At the governance level, the chapter highlights, a experimentation first, scaling next strategy by introducing binding obligations, only where the results are more pronounced. India holds a very crucial piece in the AI ecosystem with the data it generates. The chapter emphasized that government’s rooted objective remains to ensure value accruing from India’s domestic data is retained within the country for the benefit of the people.

The central message from the AI-focused chapter is India’s opportunity lies in deploying AI in a way that is economically grounded and socially responsive.