India’s G20 Sherpa, Amitabh Kant, has issued a clarion call for Indian businesses to lead the global Artificial Intelligence (AI) race by building foundational AI models tailored to solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges. Speaking at the CII Annual Business Summit 2025 in New Delhi, Kant emphasized that India’s unique strengths—its digital public infrastructure, linguistic diversity, and thriving startup ecosystem—position the country to create AI solutions that address global issues in education, healthcare, and nutrition.
Kant highlighted India’s successful use of open-source, open API, and globally interoperable models in building digital public infrastructure, suggesting that this approach should guide India’s AI strategy. He stressed that leveraging India’s 22 official languages and thousands of dialects would enable the creation of inclusive, globally relevant AI solutions. “Indian startups will do some pathbreaking work in this area,” he asserted, adding that the AI race has just begun and India must be at the forefront.
Addressing economic reforms, Kant noted that while the central government has laid the groundwork for ease of doing business, it is now up to state governments to implement deeper reforms. He urged the industry to invest heavily in research and development, rationalize Quality Control Orders, and adopt alternative dispute resolution mechanisms to foster innovation and competitiveness.
Kant also called for a renewed push in tourism and manufacturing, underscoring the need for second-generation reforms to sustain India’s accelerated growth and global competitiveness.
Sources: Business Standard, The Hans India, IndUS Business Journal