As per a recent report data and artificial intelligence (AI) can add up to $450-$500 billion to India’s GDP by 2025. Industry apex body Nasscom said, “This is estimated to contribute to the country’s economic recovery and growth.”
While releasing a Nasscom report titled ‘Unlock Value from Data and Artificial Intelligence: The Indian Opportunity’ on Tuesday, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Electronics and IT said,
“Artificial Intelligence has become a strategic lever for economic growth across nations and will continue to be one of the most crucial technologies of the future. Digital India has reimagined how our government connects with citizens and the accelerated deployment of AI and other emerging technologies will help further this objective. To harness its full potential, India needs to embrace AI innovation and regulation with an open, inclusive and collaborative mindset,”
The report and action plan have been reviewed by industry leaders. Some of the prominent names that include are N. Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons; Rishad Premji, Chairman, Wipro; UB Pravin Rao, Chairman, Nasscom, and Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India.
As the report, regarding India, if the country acts quickly, it has the potential to become a leader in building holistic data utilization and AI effort. As countries around the globe emerge from the pandemic and global economic slowdown, a coordinated program across five key areas – strategy, data, technology stack, talent, and execution is required to capture the opportunity.
“The Nasscom report on Unlocking Value from Data and Artificial Intelligence is an action plan that can help India emerge stronger from the COVID-19 crisis. Data and AI’s true potential emerges from its ability to drive transformation across multiple sectors through a diverse range of applications,”
says Debjani Ghosh, president, Nasscom.
Nasscom announced regarding hosting an Xperience AI Summit between the September 1 and 4 in partnership with the Telangana Artificial Intelligence Mission. This platform is expected to bring together diverse stakeholders in the country’s Artificial Intelligence ecosystem.
Speaking at a panel discussion at the virtual launch of the report, Wipro NSE -0.04 % chairman Rishad Premji said it was important to have a comprehensive view of what India can drive.
“How do we ensure we move beyond pilots to scalability. We do a great job in starting ideas off and getting them into the pilot mode, but how do we get real scale where the magic lies and identify the challenges that lie in getting a pilot to scale,”
said Premji.
UB Pravin Rao, with similar sentiments, commented that the country needs a razor-sharp focus on execution, given that there are opportunities to use AI in every sector.
Some of the key interventions to create a vibrant data economy in India the report has suggested includes
- Identifying datasets of national importance with each ministry with specific use cases, launching a program to create a marketplace of data and derived assets, and establishing a central agency for defining and enforcing data standards.
- It recommends focusing on building a vibrant data economy by developing high-quality datasets, data governance standards, and data marketplace and strengthening capabilities that could position India as a global hub, enabling investment, jobs, and innovation.
The report highlights the importance of building an AI innovation ecosystem and to seek greater participation from the private sector and entrepreneurs.
