Lok Sabha Question No. 505 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-23
Subject: Bharat AI Exchange Platform
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Shri Dhaval Laxmanbhai Patel

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 505

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 23.07.2025

## BHARAT AI EXCHANGE PLATFORM

## 505. SHRI DHAVAL LAXMANBHAI PATEL:

Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state: (a) whether the Bharat AI Exchange platform includes or plans to include a sandbox for startups and civic tech organisations to pilot governance-enhancing AI models and if so, the details thereof; (b)  the  number  of  pilot  participants  and  the  sectors  being  prioritized  (e.g.,  urban  mobility, grievance redressal); and

- (c) whether such innovations being incentivised through inter-ministerial coordination?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI JITIN PRASADA)

(a) to (c):    India's AI strategy is based on the Hon'ble Prime Minister's vision to democratize the use of technology. It aims to address India centric challenges, create economic and employment opportunities for all Indians.

## AI ecosystem in India at present:

India has a strong information technology ecosystem. It generates annual revenues of more than 250 billion dollars and provides employment to more than 6 million people.

Global rankings such as Stanford AI rankings place India among the top countries in AI skills, capabilities,  and  policies  to  use  AI.  India  is  also  the  second-largest  contributor  to  GitHub  AI projects, showcasing its vibrant developer community.

## India's AI strategy:

India's AI strategy aims to position India as a global leader in artificial intelligence. Government launched  IndiaAI  mission  in  March  2024.  It  is  a  strategic  initiative  to  establish  a  robust  and inclusive AI ecosystem aligned with India's development goals.

The IndiaAI Mission comprises of the following 7 key pillars:

- IndiaAI  Compute  Capacity: It  aims  to  provide  high-end  compute  power  (GPUs)  to  all, including MSMEs and startups, at an affordable cost.
- IndiaAI Foundation Models: To develop India's own Large Multimodal Models (LMMs) trained  on  Indian  datasets  and  languages.  This  will  ensure  sovereign  capability  and  global competitiveness in generative AI.
- AIKosh: To develop large datasets for training AI models. AIKosh is a unified data platform integrating datasets from government and non-government sources.
- IndiaAI Application Development Initiative: This pillar aims to develop AI applications for India  specific  challenges  in  sectors  such  as  climate  change  and  disaster  management, healthcare, agriculture, governance, and assistive technologies for learning disabilities.
- IndiaAIFutureSkills: To develop AI skilled professionals in India by increasing the number of graduates, post-graduate and PhDs in AI domain. It also envisions setting up Data and AI Labs in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities across India.
- IndiaAI Startup Financing: To provide financial assistance to AI start-ups.
- Safe & Trusted AI: To balance innovation with strong governance frameworks to ensure responsible AI adoption.

## BharatX

- BharatX is a national level data exchange for sharing of data between various government ministries/ entities. It ensures seamless and secure data exchange  between  different government entities.
- Private  sector  entities  are  also  encouraged  to  share  their  AI  ready  datasets  to  the  AIKosh platform.
- BharatX platform  aims  to  serve  as  the  data  repository  for  AIKosh  Platform.  AIKosh  also provides a sandbox mechanism which allows Indian start-ups/ academia to test their tools in a controlled environment.
- On  the  AIKosh  platform,  so  far,  9  curated  use  cases  across  various  sectors  have  been developed,  including Agriculture,  Healthcare,  Urban  Planning,  Energy,  Finance,  and Governance .
- Ministries, departments, and organizations are also invited to submit their own use cases on the platform, utilizing contributed datasets.

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