The Union Budget 2025 that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is going to present is likely to make Artificial Intelligence the talking point, underlining the emphasis by the government to develop AI capabilities in India. Sources say that a “special mention” of the progress and initiatives regarding AI in India would be a key highlight of the budget.
Union Budget 2025: Major Investments in Artificial Intelligence Development
A milestone step to take on critical proposals of funding over ₹10,300 crores was cleared by the Indian Cabinet for the India AI Mission in March 2024. The money is to be spread over five years. Some of these include India AI Compute Capacity, IAIC, India AI Datasets Platform, AI Skilling Programs, financing startups, and finally, safety and trust structures that ensure safer applications.
However, industry estimates are that this can go up by a whopping 20%, considering that AI technology requirements are growing exponentially in various verticals in India. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology also proposes setting up innovation hubs and clusters on artificial intelligence in major cities for entrepreneurship and innovation.
Artificial Intelligence Skilling and Governance Integration
The government will also introduce AI Skilling Programs, which are being jointly designed by the Ministry of Finance and MEITY, to address emergent requirements for a skilled workforce. The long-term plan might be to integrate AI into public governance systems, like traffic management and disaster response, to achieve greater efficiency. A proposed national policy framework may cover the use of ethical AI, data privacy, and other issues on intellectual property rights with a view to responsible AI deployment.
India’s Role in the Global AI Landscape: With its robust IT talent pool and dynamic startup ecosystem, India is all set to emerge as a global leader in AI. Recent engagement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with global tech leaders, including Satya Nadella of Microsoft and Aravind Srinivas of Perplexity AI, underlines India’s commitment to human-centric AI development.
Also, see: Union Budget 2025: Key Expectations for Income Tax Relief in India