Global indicators underline India’s AI readiness
Multiple international benchmarks cited in the report suggest India is better positioned than many emerging economies to adopt and scale artificial intelligence.
India ranked third in Stanford University’s 2025 Global AI Vibrancy Ranking, behind the United States and China.
According to Stanford’s AI Index Report 2025, India’s relative penetration of AI skills is 2.5 times higher than the global average across comparable occupations, highlighting a growing depth of AI-capable talent.
India scored 49.3 on the IMF’s AI Preparedness Index, higher than the average for emerging and developing economies, and ranked 27th in Oxford Insights’ Government AI Readiness Index 2025, leading South and Central Asia.
Digital infrastructure supports AI expansion
The report identifies digital infrastructure as a central enabler of India’s AI ambitions. Internet connections crossed 100 crore in June 2025, compared with 25.15 crore in 2014, while India has emerged as the world’s second-largest 5G market with more than 400 million users.
National Informatics Centre data centres in Delhi, Pune, Bhubaneswar and Hyderabad have expanded storage capacity to around 100 petabytes, supporting AI model training, deployment and data-intensive governance applications. The government has also acquired 38,000 GPUs as part of efforts to strengthen domestic AI compute capacity.
Startup ecosystem and foundation models in focus
In preparation for the Summit, 12 AI startups selected under the IndiaAI Mission’s Foundation Model pillar presented their work at a roundtable chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. These startups are working on Indian language foundation models, multilingual large language models, speech and video generation, 3D content creation, engineering simulations, healthcare diagnostics and material research.
AI reshaping India’s labour market
The report states that artificial intelligence presents India with an opportunity for labour market transformation rather than displacement. Between 2023 and 2025, AI-related job postings in South Asia more than doubled, with India accounting for the majority of listings.
Stanford’s AI Index Report 2025 shows India leading globally in AI talent hiring growth, with an annual hiring rate of about 33 per cent. GitHub data places India as the second-largest contributor to global AI projects, accounting for nearly one-fifth of total contributions in 2024.
Southern India emerges as AI jobs hub
AI-related employment in India is concentrated in southern technology hubs. Bengaluru accounted for around 11 per cent of AI job listings in 2025, followed by Hyderabad at 9.57 per cent, Pune at 6.95 per cent and Chennai at 6.62 per cent, according to World Bank data cited in the report.
Roles requiring AI expertise offer a significant wage premium. Jobs demanding AI skills command salaries up to 28 per cent higher than non-AI roles, reflecting strong demand for specialised talent.
Skilling initiatives target workforce readiness
To address skill requirements, the government has rolled out multiple skilling and education initiatives aligned with AI adoption. These include IndiaAI FutureSkills, FutureSkills Prime, Skill India Digital Hub, and curriculum reforms under the National Education Policy 2020.
As of December 2025, the Centre is supporting 500 PhD scholars, 5,000 postgraduates and 8,000 undergraduates in AI-related fields. AI and data labs have been established in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, alongside upgrades in ITIs and polytechnics across 27 states and Union territories.
