Lok Sabha Question No. 249 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-11-27
Subject: AI Preparedness Index
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Shri Subbarayan K, Com. Selvaraj V

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 249

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 27.11.2024

## AI PREPAREDNESS INDEX

## 249 SHRI SUBBARAYAN K: COM. SELVARAJ V:

Will the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  it  is  a  fact  that  India  stands  at  80 th spot  at  the  Artificial  Intelligence  (AI) preparedness Index across 174 countries based on several indicators across four dimensions viz. digital infrastructure, human capital, technological innovation and legal framework; and
- (b)  if so, the details thereof and the Government's reaction thereto?

## ANSWER

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

(a)  and    (b):    AI  is  an  emerging  field.  Hon'ble  Prime  Minister  Shri  Narendra  Modi  Ji  has approved setting up of an AI Mission to take leadership in this new field. We are focusing on solving problems in Agriculture, Education, Healthcare, Weather Forecasting, Logistics and many other fields using AI application.

The most reliable ranking in AI is placing India among the top countries with the AI Skills, AI capabilities and policy to use AI.

Stanford University has ranked India at the top for AI skill penetration.

Github, which is community of developers has ranked India at the top with the global share of 24.19% of all projects.

Practically on all parameters, India ranks very high on AI Skills, AI development projects and AI  policy.  Stanford  University  has  ranked  India  among  top  four  countries  along-with  US, China and UK in Global and National AI vibrancy ranking based on 42 indicators.

India chaired the Global Partnership on AI in December 2023 and July 2024.

AI  technologies  have  a  tremendous  potential  to  transform  societies  and  individuals.  To develop a robust, safe and trusted AI innovation ecosystem in the country, Government of India has taken following necessary steps:

1. Union  Cabinet  led  by  Hon'ble  Prime  Minister  Shri  Narendra  Modi  ji  approved  the IndiaAI Mission on 7 th March 2024. This mission is driven by a vision to position India as a global leader in artificial intelligence by focusing on seven key pillars:
- a) IndiaAI  Compute: The  IndiaAI  compute  pillar  envisions  building  a  high-end scalable AI computing ecosystem comprising AI compute infrastructure of 10,000 or more Graphics Processing Units (GPUs).
- b) IndiaAI Innovation Centre (IAIC): The AI Innovation centre aims to develop and deploy indigenous Large Multimodal Models (LMMs) trained on India-specific data.
- c) IndiaAI Datasets Platform: The IndiaAI Datasets Platform (IDP) seeks to enhance access, quality, and utilization of public sector datasets to make them AI-ready.
- d) IndiaAI Application Development Initiative: The IndiaAI Application Development Initiative aims to develop, scale, and promote the adoption of impactful AI solutions to effectively tackle significant problem statements.
- e) IndiaAI FutureSkills: IndiaAI FutureSkills Pillar envisions to augment the number of  graduates, post-graduate and PhDs in AI domain. Further, it envisions setting up Data and AI Labs in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities across India, to impart foundational-level courses in Data and AI.
- f) IndiaAI Startup Financing: For providing support to AI startups at all stages.
- g) Safe  &  Trusted  AI: This  pillar  enables  the  implementation  of  Responsible  AI projects  including  the  development  of  indigenous  tools  and  frameworks,  selfassessment checklists for innovators, and other guidelines and governance frameworks.
2. Launch of "National AI Portal" (https://indiaai.gov.in/) which serves as a comprehensive repository of Artificial Intelligence (AI) initiatives in the country. The portal  acts  as  a  single  point  of  reference  for  individuals,  researchers,  and  industry professionals  seeking  information  about  AI  initiatives  in  India,  including  academic research, startups, policy initiatives, and other related information.
3. India  is  a  founding  member  of  Global  Partnership  on  Artificial  Intelligence  (GPAI), having joined  the  multi-stakeholder  initiative  on  June  15,  2020.  India  is  the  chair  of Global Partnership of AI for 2024 and hosted the GPAI summits in December 2023 and July  2024  which  led  to  the  expansion  of  GPAI  into  an  Integrated  Partnership  with OECD with 44 members from the earlier 29 members.
4. MeitY has initiated 'FutureSkills PRIME' a digital skilling initiative for re-skilling/upskilling  of  IT  manpower  for  employability  in  10  new/emerging  technologies.  These include AI, Blockchain,  Robotics,  Big  Data  &  Analytics,  IoT,  Virtual  Reality, Cybersecurity, Cloud Computing, 3D Printing and Web 3.0. About 20 Lakh users have registered on the FutureSkills PRIME platform.
5. 'Visvesvaraya  PhD  Scheme'  with  the  objective  to  enhance  the  number  of  PhDs  in Electronics  System  Design  &  Manufacturing  (ESDM)  and  IT/IT  Enabled  Services (IT/ITES) sectors including AI and Emerging Technologies.
6. MeitY  along  with  CDAC  has  also  implemented  the  project  on  AIRAWAT  (AI Research, Analytics and Knowledge Dissemination Platform) for providing a common compute  platform  for  AI  research  and  knowledge  assimilation.  This  AI  computing infrastructure is being used by all technology innovation hubs, research labs, scientific communities, industry and start-ups, and institutions with National  Knowledge Network.
7. NIC has setup a Centre of Excellence in AI which is involved in facilitating AI as a Service through on Meghraj cloud with 7 AI PFlops supercompute facility created at Delhi and 5 AI PFlop in Kolkata.

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