Mini ‘AI missions' sprout in states boosting adoption and innovation

Time of India

7 hours ago

Indian states are launching AI missions to drive innovation, enhance public services, and boost local economies. From Rajasthan to Odisha and Telangana, states are creating policies, funding infrastructure, and enabling AI adoption. While challenges like limited budgets and skill gaps persist, this decentralised push aligns with India's broader, enablement-focused tech strategy.
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A host of mini 'AI missions' are cropping up to support AI innovation, boost adoption in critical sectors, and make public service delivery more efficient in the states.Earlier this month, Rajasthan released its draft AI policy with financial incentives for AI innovation, provisions to set up data and compute platforms, and ethical principles. Maharashtra approved the MahaAgri-AI policy to transform the sector with this technology. A dedicated AI policy is being chalked out to 'embrace AI in all walks of life', chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had said in February.In May, the Odisha government announced the Odisha AI Mission with plans to provide compute capacity, access to datasets, and enable use case development. Haryana approved Rs 474 crores for the Haryana AI Development Project to support critical AI infrastructure , workforce transition, and AI in public service delivery.Telangana was an early mover, announcing an AI mission back in 2020. Its AI strategy released last year includes subsidised compute and a 200-acre 'AI city' near Hyderabad.'As more states step into this journey, it strengthens the collective momentum, and we are proud to be leading with both clarity and conviction,' Telangana IT minister D Sridhar Babu told ET.'The aim is to be aligned with and complement the IndiaAI Mission ,' a Rajasthan official told ET. 'Taking AI to the grassroots requires state-level initiatives, as states carry out a large number of citizen services.'A huge amount of data, especially in regional languages and dialects, sits with state governments. This can aid in AI training to solve local problems more effectively and inclusively, they added.Amid shrinking economic headroom and rising citizen expectations, states are recognising that integrating AI into public service delivery enables cost reduction and faster delivery, said Vivek Agarwal, country director-India, Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, a policy advisory organisation that works with various state governments.They also see how the technology is reshaping the industrial and employment landscape and 'states that fail to embrace AI risk being left behind in the 'new' economy,' Agarwal said.States like Rajasthan and Odisha leaning in signals that AI isn't just for India's IT corridors, said Vinay Butani, Partner, Economic Laws Practice. 'Having their own policies ensures that innovation is not just top-down, but also rooted in local needs and realities.'Although most of these policies also cover responsible AI principles, they don't impose strict regulatory curbs or penalties for non-compliance.'This approach mirrors India's broader tech policy ethos: enablement over regulation,' said Jameela Sahiba, associate director-AI & public affairs, The Dialogue. 'There is growing soft competition among states to emerge as AI-friendly destinations. This is akin to the startup policy race of the 2010s.'Tamil Nadu in its 2024-2025 budget allocated Rs 14 crore for two years for its AI mission and Kerala's investing Rs 10 crore for a GPU cluster.Gujarat set up an AI task force last year to outline an action plan, which has almost been finalised, said Mona Khandhar, principal secretary, department of science and technology, Gujarat. The focus areas include providing GPU compute, building Gujarati language AI models, and developing use cases for government departments.Karnataka is studying the impact of AI on its workforce to guide its upcoming IT policy.But states face initial challenges of infrastructure availability, skill gaps, funding and investment, population scale roll out of use cases to drive adoption, and managing bias and fairness aspects, said Anurag Dua, partner, EY India'Many state missions began with seed budgets in the low tens of crores of rupees, which threaten to run dry before large-scale pilots prove their worth,' cautioned Sreeram A, partner, Deloitte India.