IBM Chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna has called for stronger “AI sovereignty” in India, urging the country to build local capabilities and deepen investments across both public and private sectors. Speaking to NDTV Profit at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Krishna said India's next leap in artificial intelligence will come from strengthening the underlying ecosystem — ranging from semiconductors to model development and real‑world applications.
He noted that smaller AI models are rapidly catching up with the capabilities of large foundational models and now account for nearly 95% of consumption. “The underlying ecosystem whether it's semiconductors, model building, or usage applications is where the big breakthroughs will come for India,” he said.
Krishna also pointed to China's DeepSeek as an example of how success in AI often follows multiple failed attempts. He stressed that India must embrace experimentation, risk‑taking and tolerance for failure to achieve meaningful progress. He added that specialised AI systems trained on local datasets—such as those from Indian healthcare, defence and legal domains—could create highly effective custom models for domestic applications.
Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, speaking at the same panel, said Indian IT companies have already pivoted toward AI and are accelerating hiring in the sector. He revealed that India is currently developing 12 AI models, and at least four of them will be launched very soon.
Vaishnaw emphasised that India's strategy hinges on a suite of focused, sector‑specific small models that can deliver productivity gains across industries. The minister also highlighted rapid progress in India's semiconductor programme, with 10 fabrication plants under construction, three pilot projects underway, and four units expected to begin commercial operations in 2026.
According to the minister, India is witnessing a massive $70‑billion investment into AI‑enabling infrastructure, including data centres from the liked of Google and Amazon. He added that the government's recent move to allow private sector participation in nuclear power generation will help meet the enormous energy demands of large‑scale AI computing.
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