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India's key strength in artificial intelligence lies in the applications layer, while the country is simultaneously building capabilities in data centres and other digital infrastructure, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in an interview with Morgan Stanley India Equity Strategist Ridham Desai.
"Our biggest strength is in the applications layer," Vaishnaw said during the interaction with Desai, highlighting India's established IT ecosystem and its ability to understand enterprise requirements and develop technology solutions around them. "Almost 80 per cent of the startups which are coming up now are basically providing AI-based solutions," the minister said, underlining the growing role of AI-driven startups in India's technology landscape. Vaishnaw also identified data centres as an area where India is "playing well", with the country's renewable energy capacity providing an advantage for supporting such infrastructure. Around 250 gigawatts of India's power generation capacity currently comes from renewable sources, he said. The minister pointed to India's electronics manufacturing journey as an example of how the country can build capabilities in emerging technology sectors, including semiconductors. India, he said, gradually developed its electronics ecosystem by moving from finished-product assembly to modules, sub-modules and components. "So step-by-step, building this entire ecosystem. Because of this strategy, in a period of the last decade, we have been able to establish ourselves as an important electronics manufacturing destination," Vaishnaw said. He further said India now accounts for 20 per cent of the global semiconductor design workforce, while the government has provided advanced chip-design tools to 318 universities. Students are using these tools to design chips, which are subsequently fabricated, assembled and tested at a semiconductor laboratory. Highlighting India's digital infrastructure, Vaishnaw said around 90 per cent of the country has access to 5G, making India the world's second-largest 5G ecosystem. He also underlined the role of digital public infrastructure in enabling startups to build new solutions instead of leaving payment systems in the hands of a few companies. "When we say democratized technology, we mean that technology should not be left in the hands of a few," he said. Vaishnaw also linked improvements in digital and physical infrastructure to India's manufacturing competitiveness. Railway freight volumes, he said, have risen from around 1,000 million tonnes a decade ago to 1,670 million tonnes currently. Improved railway operations have a direct impact on logistics costs and efficiency for industries, the minister said, highlighting the broader economic significance of infrastructure development. Vaishnaw said these initiatives are part of a broader growth strategy focused on physical, digital and social infrastructure, inclusive growth, innovation and manufacturing. (ANI)
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