India poised to become the world’s data capital: NITI Aayog report
The report identifies manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, banking, and automotive as four priority sectors with the highest potential for AI-led transformation, noting that AI could add an incremental $500–600 billion to India’s GDP by 2035 beyond its current growth trajectory.
- Sep 16, 2025,
- Updated Sep 16, 2025 7:56 PM IST
India could emerge as the world’s data capital, leveraging its vast population, linguistic diversity, and cultural richness to set global benchmarks in trusted data ecosystems. According to a new report by NITI Aayog, titled AI for Viksit Bharat: The Opportunity for Accelerated Economic Growth, it underscores that by placing quality, trusted, and interoperable data at the centre, India can establish itself as a leader in the breadth, depth, and reliability of data.
B.V.R. Subrahmanyam, CEO of NITI Aayog, stressed that accelerating India’s growth to the 8% annual rate required to achieve the “Viksit Bharat” vision will be possible only if the country significantly raises productivity. Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption, he said, will play a critical role in this transformation.
The analysis suggests that AI could add an incremental $500–600 billion to India’s GDP by 2035, over and above its current growth trajectory. This gain would stem from higher productivity, operational efficiencies, and the redeployment of human effort towards higher-value tasks.
The report identifies manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, banking, and automotive as four priority sectors with the greatest potential for AI-led transformation. Manufacturing, in particular, is described as central to India’s development story, with AI expected to drive innovation in areas such as predictive maintenance, supply chain optimisation, and quality control.
Yet, the path forward is not without challenges. India must simultaneously prepare a digitally skilled workforce while ensuring that those displaced by automation are reskilled and redeployed into other sectors. “Narrowing the AI skill gap with leading countries by 2035 will require a strong push in talent development, advanced research, and building globally competitive AI models,” the report notes.
Equally important will be aligning industrial and trade policies to deepen domestic demand while securing stronger participation in global value chains. As global rulebooks on AI evolve rapidly, India’s ability to balance productivity gains with innovation and market creation will be critical to realising its ambitions of becoming both a data powerhouse and an engine of economic growth.
India could emerge as the world’s data capital, leveraging its vast population, linguistic diversity, and cultural richness to set global benchmarks in trusted data ecosystems. According to a new report by NITI Aayog, titled AI for Viksit Bharat: The Opportunity for Accelerated Economic Growth, it underscores that by placing quality, trusted, and interoperable data at the centre, India can establish itself as a leader in the breadth, depth, and reliability of data.
B.V.R. Subrahmanyam, CEO of NITI Aayog, stressed that accelerating India’s growth to the 8% annual rate required to achieve the “Viksit Bharat” vision will be possible only if the country significantly raises productivity. Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption, he said, will play a critical role in this transformation.
The analysis suggests that AI could add an incremental $500–600 billion to India’s GDP by 2035, over and above its current growth trajectory. This gain would stem from higher productivity, operational efficiencies, and the redeployment of human effort towards higher-value tasks.
The report identifies manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, banking, and automotive as four priority sectors with the greatest potential for AI-led transformation. Manufacturing, in particular, is described as central to India’s development story, with AI expected to drive innovation in areas such as predictive maintenance, supply chain optimisation, and quality control.
Yet, the path forward is not without challenges. India must simultaneously prepare a digitally skilled workforce while ensuring that those displaced by automation are reskilled and redeployed into other sectors. “Narrowing the AI skill gap with leading countries by 2035 will require a strong push in talent development, advanced research, and building globally competitive AI models,” the report notes.
Equally important will be aligning industrial and trade policies to deepen domestic demand while securing stronger participation in global value chains. As global rulebooks on AI evolve rapidly, India’s ability to balance productivity gains with innovation and market creation will be critical to realising its ambitions of becoming both a data powerhouse and an engine of economic growth.