India's AI Infrastructure

The Government of India's white paper, titled "Democratising Access to AI Infrastructure", highlights a crucial aspect of India's AI future: infrastructure access will determine the nation's innovation and competitiveness.

Key Insights

• AI Infrastructure as a Digital Public Utility: The paper argues that AI infrastructure, comprising compute power, datasets, and AI model ecosystems, should be treated as essential as roads and electricity.
• Two Layers of Infrastructure:
  • Physical: Involves data centres, GPUs, high-performance computing clusters, and energy systems.
  • Digital: Includes datasets, model repositories, governance frameworks, and access protocols.
• Current Imbalance: India generates about 20% of global data but hosts only 3% of global data centre capacity, forcing dependence on foreign platforms.

Strategic Initiatives and Challenges

• Policy Initiatives: Programs like the IndiaAI Mission, National Supercomputing Mission, AIRAWAT, and national GPU clusters aim to enhance AI capacity.
• Centralisation Risks: Global AI infrastructure is dominated by a few firms, which poses economic and strategic risks for India.
• Sustainability: The paper stresses the need for energy-efficient AI infrastructure aligned with renewable energy goals.

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs)

The white paper suggests PPPs as a vital mechanism to expand India's AI infrastructure, combining public oversight with private sector efficiency.

Sectoral Imbalance in AI Adoption

• Mature Sectors: Finance, e-commerce, and IT are advanced in AI adoption.
• Lagging Sectors: Agriculture, healthcare, education, and public services need more democratized AI access.

Trust-Centric Access

The paper emphasizes a phased, trust-based governance approach to ensure that AI infrastructure fosters innovation and protects citizen trust such as through India's Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) model.

Conclusion

India must choose whether AI becomes an exclusive privilege or a shared capability for inclusive growth and digital sovereignty. The white paper advocates for a balanced approach — not purely concentrated or state-controlled — but as a public utility powered by collaboration and trust.